


Don't Dare to Dream!

by specyeol



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-01-16 11:23:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 27,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12341709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/specyeol/pseuds/specyeol
Summary: Kim Myungsoo likes Lee Sungyeol. Lee Sungyeol likes Kim Myungsoo. And no one likes Nam Woohyun, and it's driving him crazy.A story about one-sided love, dating, pining, attraction, and a whole lot of jealousy.





	1. Episode I

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! This is my first fic for this account. I wanted to try my hand at something new. I hope you like it. If you do, then YAY!

“He likes you.” It was was a statement. The time of suspicion had passed. With all of the evidence now compiled, all of the pieces fit snugly in place, Woohyun was now 100% certain about this.

Woohyun met Kim Myungsoo just only three months ago. Lee Sungyeol, on the other hand, Woohyun had known him for about a year already. Myungsoo had been in the army then for his mandatory service, and Sungyeol, who enlisted a year before, was missing him dearly. And so Woohyun had heard much about Myungsoo before they actually met, so so so much, which was why Woohyun began to be suspicious of Sungyeol. There was something about the way Sungyeol talked about Myungsoo. Woohyun had seen the same look in the man whenever he talked about a new trick that Aga, his puppy, had learned or something cute that she did. Sungyeol looked proud and, perhaps, smitten. And the more Sungyeol talked about his dear, old friend in the army, the more Woohyun suspected. Once Woohyun was finally introduced to Myungsoo, he was _almost_ certain of it. Kim Myungsoo the most handsome man that Woohyun had ever laid eyes upon, and Sungyeol would have to be blind not to notice how handsome his friend was.

And Sungyeol wasn’t blind to it. Not at all.

What made Woohyun _completely_ certain of Sungyeol’s affections was when he saw his friend be incredibly considerate of Myungsoo. It wasn’t as if Sungyeol didn’t often think of other people or do nice things for them. He was generally a nice guy. But he was over the top (or head over heels) when it came to Myungsoo. It seemed like Sungyeol always thought of him. When they went to grab coffee together, Sungyeol would often take one on the way out for Myungsoo who was “working late” (or maybe a late-night coffee delivery was just an excuse to see Myungsoo in a dark and empty office). When the three of them went to the movies, Sungyeol often let Myungsoo pick because “he just finished his service,” even though two months had already passed at that point since the discharge and they had to sit through yet another romantic foreign film (or for Sungyeol, sleep through). And everything seemed to remind Sungyeol of Myungsoo: a black cat, movie posters, figurines, and one time a really fluffy cloud that Sungyeol claimed looked like Myungsoo’s face when he smiled.

Even now, Sungyeol couldn’t seem to keep away from his best friend and favorite playmate, when he really needed to be tending to other customers at his parents’ chicken shop. Everytime he caught Myungsoo’s eyes, he waved. Whenever he passed by their table, Sungyeol would drop off a snarky comment, a joke. He couldn’t keep away. He couldn’t stop thinking or noticing Myungsoo’s presence in the room.

Which made Woohyun snap and confess on Sungyeol’s behalf.

“What? Sungyeol?” Myungsoo asked, just barely sparing a glance up at Woohyun and away from his food. Only giving the other enough time to nod. Myungsoo continued to eat and talk, “No, no he doesn't. We’re just friends. We’ve only been friends.”

“Really?” Woohyun challenged. And then he laughed, a lot.

This time Myungsoo actually put down his utensils and devoted his attention to Woohyun. “Why are you laughing?”

“You're being ridiculous, Myungsoo!” Woohyun spat back. “So...ignorant,” he squeaked out between laughs. And the laughter wouldn’t stop. It piled up one on top of the other. He couldn’t breathe because of it. But it was just so silly. If Woohyun had been suspecting it, then surely Myungsoo, the target of Sungyeol’s smitteness, would have an inkling about his best friend’s feelings. It was as if Myungsoo was denying that the sky was blue and saying that it had always been green. Silly, ridiculous, and avoidant of the truth? Woohyun quickly sobered up at that thought. “No, wait...you're pretending to be ignorant,” he pointed out. It was confirmed by Myungsoo suddenly avoiding his eyes and began to drink his beer. “Wow,” Woohyun muttered in disbelief, “You're even more ridiculous than I thought.”

When Myungsoo put down his glass again, it was nearly empty, which was odd. Woohyun would’ve sworn that the large glass was almost full. And Myungsoo, he wasn’t one to guzzle things down. But tonight he was. “Sungyeol gets like this sometimes. He falls for people quickly, but then when he thinks, _actually_ uses his head and considers the relationship _rationally_ , more often than not, he falls back out,” the alcohol hadn’t only had his cheeks glow red but it made his tongue loose too. That was the most irritated that Woohyun had ever heard Myungsoo speak about Sungyeol. “I've been friends with him for years. I've seen it countless times.” Myungsoo had to know, even as tipsy as he was, that he was reaching for Woohyun’s beer. So Woohyun let him have it.

“Yes, but how many times has it been directed at you?” Woohyun asked while the other took a drink. It was a short one this time.

“This...wouldn't be the first,” Myungsoo stumbled through that admission and was embarrassed by it. He chuckled nervously and covered his reddening cheeks. “It happened the first time we met. I thought...we’d end up dating, but he must've given it a second thought and decided against it,” he revealed in a low voice, so Sungyeol on the completely other side of the room, would have absolutely no chance of hearing.

Now Woohyun wished he had his beer back.

“So you do like him.”

“Huh?” Myungsoo mumbled as he turned towards the other, hands still on his cheeks.

“I suspected it, when we first met,” Woohyun revealed. He put his arm up along the back of the booth to turn towards and get a better look at the other. He and Myungsoo were sitting on the same side of the booth. “You always talk so much about him. And whenever Sungyeol comes by, you only seemed to have eyes for him,” Woohyun hissed. He was on the verge of snapping with Myungsoo too. If Sungyeol had come by their table then, Woohyun would’ve confessed for Myungsoo too. Because for every bit of consideration and affection that Sungyeol doted on Myungsoo, Myungsoo soaked it all in and reciprocated it. The shy eye-smiles, the ready retort to whatever witty comment Sungyeol made, the lingering touches and gazes, and probably much more than Woohyun had seen (or cared to). And now, Myungsoo was sitting on the same side of the booth as Woohyun so that he could watch Sungyeol behind the counter and going in and out of the kitchen.

And yet Myungsoo had the audacity to say: “It's not like that.” He snorted derisively as if Woohyun was being the ridiculous one. “He’s both of our friend. We _both_ talk about him a lot.” At that, Woohyun rolled his eyes and stole back his beer, both of which went unnoticed by Myungsoo who continued yapping, “You're acting as if I'm obsessed with him.” Myungsoo spoke as if it were a curious thing. Why would Woohyun ever think that? And when Woohyun glanced over at him, Myungsoo looked curious too, with furrowed eyebrows and a face drawing closer to Woohyun’s.

“Aren't you?” Woohyun whispered, now slowly losing confidence in everything he thought was true. Were they really just friends? Was this just how they were?

“I like him. You're right about that,” Myungsoo admitted. “But it's not an obsession. It's…” he looked away as he tried to find the right word. But Myungsoo found Sungyeol instead. They waved to each other again for the forty-eighth time that night, but hey, it’s not like Woohyun made a drinking game out of it or anything (he totally did). Sungyeol gestured, asking if they wanted more to drink. They both nodded, Woohyun more so than Myungsoo.

But Woohyun found the word that Myungsoo had been searching for: “Love?” Myungsoo tore his gaze away from Sungyeol and onto Woohyun, questioning. “Is it love? With Sungyeol?” Woohyun clarified.

“Eung, well, maybe,” the first part came out as a reflex, the rest was just back-peddling. Woohyun scoffed and shook his head at the other. Myungsoo gave himself away too easily, but he was still going to try to distract Woohyun, “And if I cared that much about what Sungyeol thought would I risk it all and be on a date with you here.” He was using the term “date” lightly, very lightly. They were at Sungyeol’s parents’ place, yes, but that was because Sungyeol had lured them there with the promise of free chicken and beer. It was no secret. The way to Myungsoo’s heart was through food, and a lot of it. Food was always Myungsoo’s top priority, Woohyun’s too, which was why he was invited along.

But free food might not be the only reason why Myungsoo invited along Woohyun. The two of them did look rather intimate, sitting on the same side of the booth and whispering to each other. Woohyun’s arm had slipped from the back of the bench and was now resting on Myungsoo, who didn’t mind. He was just barking like the tipsy dog he was and was leaning into Woohyun.

“You would if you wanted to make him jealous,” Woohyun pointed out and tapped his fingers against Myungsoo’s shoulders in order to show how they cozy looked.

When Myungsoo realized it, he leaned away and slipped out from under the arm. “No,” he denied sternly. He scooted down the booth. “I wasn’t trying to…” he stopped, chewed his lips, and tried again, “Jealousy doesn't work on Sungyeol. I've seen many people try. He can see right through it. He gets offended and he loses trust in the person. Or…” Myungsoo relaxed as he laughed at this memory (his newfound sober state lasting only a few sentences). “Once, I’ve seen him try to get even and make the other person jealous and it blew up into a...war. That's not good either,” he ended with a tight-lipped smile that was on the cusp of breaking into a toothy grin, but it never did. Myungsoo faced Woohyun again. “Best way to win over Sungyeol is just to be honest,” he spoke, nodding at every word that he said, his eyes slowly closing with every nod. Woohyun about to wake him up with an angry shout, telling Myungsoo just to follow his own advice, to be honest with Sungyeol, but then Myungsoo made a joke that robbed Woohyun of his words: “Jealousy doesn't work on a person like him but it would work on a person like you! You always want something that someone else has.”

Wasn’t that the truth? Especially now, with Myungsoo slowly leaning into him again as he giggled at his own joke and with Sungyeol who, far from being jealous, was chuckling to himself when he saw his Myungsoo crumbling into a mess of laughter all over Woohyun’s lap. Or maybe Sungyeol was laughing because Woohyun just looked dumbfounded by it all. Finally, after several seconds had passed, Woohyun regained his sense of mind and speech and managed to say, “I don't...always.”

Myungsoo pulled himself up by the table. He was done laughing now. His face now was redder than ever, but still handsome, always handsome.

It was a good time for Sungyeol to stop by and drop off the drinks. He also swiped some more food from the kitchen for them. He told them that it was bad to drink so much on an empty stomach, eyes on Myungsoo as he spoke. And Woohyun didn’t know how he’d make it through the night without drinking. Sungyeol patted Myungsoo’s shoulders a few times and promised to join their table once he was done bussing. With that and a wave, he left again. And Woohyun took another drink.

“Besides I wouldn't do that to you,” Myungsoo muttered below his breath.

“What?” Woohyun didn’t know if he was supposed to hear that or if Myungsoo was just mindlessly yapping to himself again. Woohyun thought it was the latter. He couldn’t follow the thought.

No, he had meant for Woohyun to hear it. “I wouldn't use you like that,” Myungsoo reiterated. “I wouldn’t use you to make Sungyeol jealous.” The way Myungsoo had phrased it almost seemed like he meant that he’d use anybody but Woohyun.

“Why not?” that came out more angrily than Woohyun intended, but he was offended, weirdly enough.

Myungsoo snorted again. Was he always this slap-happy when he was drunk? This was the first time Woohyun had ever witnessed it. “What? You want me to?” Myungsoo spoke in a teasing but slurred voice. He then waved his hand in the hair, dismissing the thought. “I refuse. I...want...you,” he spoke slowly and pointed from himself to Woohyun, “...to be happy. In those kind of games...no one wins.” He suddenly lost all of his alcohol-fueled joy, and he frowned deeply. “No one is happy.” He was pouting when he raised his eyes back up to Woohyun’s. “Sungyeol is your friend too.” Just the thought of doing anything to jeopardize Woohyun’s friendship with Sungyeol made him sad, which made Woohyun feel something that he probably shouldn’t be feeling. After all, Sungyeol _was_ his friend.

“He is,” Woohyun spoke loudly to get that through his own head. But he still tried again, “That's why it'd be fun to mess with him.” Why was he trying to convince Myungsoo to use him to make Sungyeol jealous? It wasn’t what he wanted either, not at all. Was he really that desperate? Was he really going to cling on that hard? No, he was going to let Myungsoo go. “I'm kidding,” Woohyun said, forcing out a laugh as if to prove it was a joke all along. Myungsoo laughed too but didn’t say anything until Sungyeol came back. He just ate, drank, and ignored Woohyun. And Woohyun tried to do the same, but it was hard when the other was still at his side, legs touching.

Free food wasn’t worth all of this. And it definitely wasn’t worth seeing Sungyeol and Myungsoo flirt with each other for another hour. Woohyun only talked when he was asked a question and laughed when the other two did. But his mind was far removed from the table, trying to find peace.

There was none to be found. So he announced that he was leaving. And weirdly enough, Myungsoo said that he was going too. Woohyun tried to not think much of it as he hurried out of the door after giving his thanks to Sungyeol’s parents for a free meal.

That, however, gave Myungsoo enough time to catch up with him. “Hey,” he called out to Woohyun, who stopped and turned around to see Myungsoo stepping outside of the shop. Myungsoo walked up to him. His cheeks were still pink but his eyes weren’t glassy like they’d been while he was drinking. They were clear and darting all over Woohyun’s face, searching for something. “Are you okay? You seem off. Did I say something wrong?”

“No,” Woohyun was telling the truth. It was just the opposite. He forced out a yawn. “I’m just tired. It’s been a long day and a long week.”

Myungsoo didn’t look convinced but he was going to buy it anyway, “Okay.” He then smiled. “Are you too tired to walk home with me?” he asked.

Woohyun sighed. He was trying to leave quickly to get out of this. Myungsoo’s interests went like this: eating food, Lee Sungyeol, and going on long, meandering walks. And Woohyun had the fortune of being Myungsoo’s neighbor. Myungsoo’s rooftop apartment overlooked his in the building next door. It was Woohyun’s own fault, really. He had encouraged Myungsoo to take the vacant apartment months back, before Woohyun began to realize stuff. Feelings stuff. Actually, Myungsoo living nearby might’ve been the reason why all of this feelings stuff happened.

“Sure, let’s walk home,” Woohyun gave in and began down the road to their apartments.

It was a long and silent walk. They occasionally bumped into one another, being as tipsy as they were, but even that wasn’t followed by any words, not even an apology. Just the sounds of their shoes scuffing against the pavement filled the empty air.

Myungsoo was the first to speak again, but it wasn’t until they reached their apartments. “Good night,” he mumbled and was about to go up the stairs.

“Be honest with him!” Woohyun shouted after him, even though he was just a few steps away. But he really wanted to say this, get this over with, before he lost the will to say it at all. Myungsoo took a few steps back, but he didn’t turn around toward Woohyun. He just craned his neck back to look at him. Well, Woohyun had his attention, so he continued, “Tell Sungyeol that you like him. He’s giving you a second thought. That’s got to mean something, right?”

Myungsoo spun around towards Woohyun as he whined and shook his head. “It would be awkward,” he complained. His voice drifted off, “Besides I don’t even know if...”

“Of course,” Woohyun cut him off. “Love...can be like that.”

Myungsoo snorted, “Awkward?”

“Very,” Woohyun replied with a strained smile. “Make your one-sided love double-sided like...tape,” it took Woohyun a little too long to finish that idea and when he it, it was lame, but he rolled with it anyway, “Yeah! Like double-sided tape and you too will stick together seamlessly.”

Myungsoo scoffed. “You must be very tired. Go to sleep,” he urged the other and reached out to pat Woohyun’s upper arm a few times.

“I will,” Woohyun promised. “And you should confess,” he ordered the other and mimicked Myungsoo, patting him on the arm too.

“Eung, I will,” Myungsoo assured him. They then both dropped their arms from the other and stuffed their hands into their pockets, awkwardly. “Thanks for the encouragement, hyung. I’ll tell you how it goes,” he said and wished the other good night again before going up the stairs.

Woohyun went up his stairs too, and reached his apartment before the other did, as usual. His building was a floor smaller that Myungsoo’s. Woohyun walked over to the edge of the roof and rest his arms against the railing as he waited for Myungsoo to appear. And he did, for a second. Myungsoo went from the top of the stairs straight to his door and went inside, not even thinking to see if Woohyun had gotten home too. Woohyun sighed and hung his head as he fiddled with his thumbs. He stayed like that for a minute before going inside.

Myungsoo hadn’t thought of him because Myungsoo’s thoughts weren’t full of him. They were someone else’s, Sungyeol’s. And Woohyun _really_ shouldn’t be feeling this way.

* * *

** COMING UP NEXT! **

What is Myungsoo and Sungyeol's relationship really like (especially without Woohyun around)? How did they meet? Did Myungsoo really have a one-sided love with Sungyeol before? Will it become double-sided? Like tape? 

All of these questions will be answered in the next chapter! Which will feature way more Sungyeol than this chapter ever did!

See you then!


	2. Episode II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The episode after Episode I.

When Myungsoo met Sungyeol for the first time, it was during his orientation at college. They were both a part of the same department. Myungsoo was in his first year and Sungyeol in his second. They were at a drinking party which was supposed to be a way for everyone to loosen up and get to know each other so that they’d have a congenial atmosphere all year. But one second-year decided to start off his year on the wrong foot and got inordinately pissed. He then joined the first-year girls at their table and made them feel uncomfortable with his comments that were toeing the line of decency. 

Up until college, Myungsoo had only gone to an all-boys school, and he was already shy by nature. So he was already far outside of his comfort-zone, drinking with a throng of strangers and girls and trying to be as inoffensive as possible, which meant that he barely said more than two words since the party started. But seeing the girls being harassed at the other end of his table didn’t sit well with him. So he stopped sitting and stood up. He then walked over to the other side of the table and asked one of the girls, “Can I sit with you?”

“Oh, of course,” it wasn’t just the girl he asked who answered but her friends too. 

Once Myungsoo sat down, he wasn’t just outside of his comfort-zone; it was almost as if he was in a different universe. He was at a loss as to what to do now. He’d wanted to shield the girls from this drunken sunbae, but how? He was having a hard time keeping up a conversation with the girls and didn’t want to say anything disrespectful to his senior, who tried to jump into the conversation whenever he felt like the girls were ignoring him. In response to that, all that Myungsoo could do was smile and bite his tongue. He felt like he just made this situation even more awkward and uncomfortable. However, he did manage to swoop in as a black knight, whenever the guy was trying to get the girls to drink whatever concoction that he was making, all of which were horrible and made Myungsoo’s throat burn and stomach churn. He was nearly drunk himself now. And the situation was threatening to spiral out of control.

But there was someone who knew a bit better about how to handle the drunken man. It was Sungyeol. Of course, Myungsoo didn't know who he was at the time, but this incident left quite the impression on him. He wanted to know who this guy was. And how things unfolded after that led Myungsoo to think that Sungyeol felt the same. 

“Hey, man! I've been looking for you!” Sungyeol exclaimed as he squeezed himself next to his classmate. “I have something that I'm dying to tell you, in private. Over there. Come on, let's drink over there,” he tried to urge his friend and tugged at his shoulder, hoping to get him to move.

“Can they come with us?” his friend asked and then attempted to gesture at the girls, but when his hand swiped across the table, he knocked over several glasses. Beer was spilling everywhere and all over Myungsoo, soaking him through.

“Aish,” a curse slipped through his lips. “Control your friend!” That too came out before Myungsoo could register what he was saying. He just snapped at his senior. The first words he’d ever said to him were spoken out of annoyance and raw nerves. Myungsoo looked up at the other with wide eyes, ready to apologize.

Sungyeol’s face twitched. That was ingrained in Myungsoo’s mind even all of these years later. He’d already gotten his drunken friend to stand up, and his arm was wrapped around his. “I am,” Sungyeol spoke through gritted teeth and then dragged his friend away.

Not all impressions are good.

* * *

Once classes got started, the impression grew deeper, wider, ripping the two of them apart. The girls seemed to be incredibly grateful towards Myungsoo for helping them out that night, even though Sungyeol was the one to take his friend away. It wasn’t Dongwoo’s fault. Well, it was to a degree. Dongwoo shouldn’t have drank that much, not in front of new students like that, but he was grappling with some weighty issues in his life, concerning his family. Also Dongwoo was a naturally “high” person. High energy, high excitement, highly emotional. The only thing low about him was his sense of self restraint, which was further lowered by the alcohol. Sungyeol knew that Dongwoo just tried to be welcoming to those girls, who were barely even talking to each other during the party. He wanted to foster a sense of camaraderie between them. Dongwoo didn’t know how scary and intimidating he came off as. 

And after that night, those girls were actively avoiding Dongwoo and sticking to Myungsoo’s side. Dongwoo wasn’t a person to be avoided. He was a person to embrace. Especially at that point in his life he needed to be. Sungyeol could see the avoidance affecting Dongwoo. 

_ Control your friend. _

While Myungsoo was being treated like a real black knight by those “damsels,” he was also receiving praise from their teachers. It had only been a month since school started. There was no reason to believe Myungsoo was such a stellar student just yet. But suddenly he’s made to be the exemplar student because he came to class with an extra pen to give to Dongwoo who’d lost his somewhere even though he’d been holding it just a moment before. Excessive praise, unworthy praise, for something so simple. And to Sungyeol, Myungsoo appeared as being average, completely average, except for one thing, his looks. After another month of observing the first-year, Sungyeol was certain: everything that Myungsoo received in life was thanks to his handsome face. 

It looked like Myungsoo never experienced a hardship in his life. He was a golden child.

_ Control your friend _ , that line rang clear through his mind when he looked upon Myungsoo’s face when they passed each other in the halls, and Myungsoo had looked away first. Control his friend? Sungyeol couldn’t control himself anymore.

* * *

They were assigned to a group project together. Sungyeol let out a snide remark once Myungsoo joined their group meeting, a bit late too, that they’d be fine because Myungsoo was on their team. Myungsoo seemed flustered (and flattered) by that, but then Sungyeol added, “His face alone will get us an A.”

“What?” Myungsoo muttered.

“Professor Kang obviously favors you because she thinks you’re cute,” Sungyeol explained even further and distractedly too, as he flipped through his book.

“Why would you think that?” Myungsoo muttered. He was still standing by the table and hadn’t joined the group yet.

“Sit down, Myungsoo,” Bora, their other group mate, urged him. “Come on, let’s get started.’

Myungsoo turned to her. “Do you think that too?” Bora looked back up at him, pretending to be clueless. “You agree with Sungyeol-ssi, don’t you?” he reiterated. 

“Just sit down, Myungsoo,” Bora avoided the question, but Myungsoo got his answer anyway. It wasn’t the first time that people though his looks earned him all of his achievements in life. Could they not see the dark circles hanging from his eyes right now from studying late in the night? Probably not because right now Sungyeol wasn’t even looking at him at all.

“Sungyeol-ssi,” he called out to the elder and waited for Sungyeol to raise his head before he continued. “Are you talking about me behind my back?”

“Yes,” Sungyeol bluntly replied. “We all do.” He gestured around himself.

Myungsoo’s eyes followed where Sungyeol gestured and kept circling around the room. “Really?” he muttered. He felt his face grow hot, then his neck, and then it consumed his whole body.

“Sungyeol,” Bora hissed at her friend through gritted teeth and shoved him.

“What? I’m only telling him the truth,” Sungyeol defended himself. “He’s probably used to people talking about him.”

“No,” Myungsoo interjected. “No, I’m not used to it. I...can’t...It’s uncomfortable...I can’t get used to it,” he bumbled through his words. “I’m s-sorry. I have to go,” Myungsoo stammered and walked out of the classroom.

He went straight into the bathroom. The heat, the embarrassment, he had to get rid of it. He had to cool himself down before he’d say something he’d regret. Myungsoo splashed cold water on his face a few times and then patted his neck with his now cold hands. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back, his hands wrapped behind his neck. A few more minutes, just a few spent like this, and he could go back into the room, to his group, and continue the project like nothing happened.

But it didn’t pan out like that. The group came to him.

“Here you are,” Sungyeol announced when he laid eyes on Myungsoo again. The younger lowered his hands to his side and looked over at the other out of the corner of his eye, still not ready to fully face him yet. “Come back into the room. I didn’t mean any of it. I was just joking.”

Myungsoo scoffed, “Liar. You meant every word.”

“Who are you to say that? You don’t know me,” Sungyeol spat back. That was followed by a sigh. “This all doesn’t matter. Just come back. We’re wasting time.” He then reached for Myungsoo, laying a hand on his shoulder. “Come on, let’s…”

“Don’t touch me!” Myungsoo shouted. He meant to only shake Sungyeol’s hand off of him, but he’d jerked too much. His elbow connected with Sungyeol’s face. And when Myungsoo saw Sungyeol clutch his nose and whimper in pain, he couldn’t say he was sorry. He didn’t want to. At that moment, he thought Sungyeol deserved it. “I told you not to touch me.”

Myungsoo went into the bathroom to cool his body and his mind, but he ended up getting more heated and saying something that sent Sungyeol lunging at him. The two of them fought. They yelled at each other, saying every last word that was on their mind. And eventually, one of them stopped yelling and started listening to the other.

“You think I don’t know? You think I don’t know what people think? I do!”

The two of them were on the floor wrestling with each other now. Sungyeol managed to pin the younger to the ground, Myungsoo’s collar gathered in his fist. But he loosened his hold, just a fraction. Myungsoo’s face was so red that it was deepening into purple. His eyes shined with emotions that Sungyeol was just beginning to understand.

“People think that I can get a free ride in life just because of my looks,” Myungsoo was still shouting even though his voice was cracking. “But if I really wanted to do that would I be studying...accounting!”

Sungyeol sputtered and then laughed, heartedly. He let go of Myungsoo, patted the spot that he was holding so tightly moments before and sat up (although still on the younger). This kid, he was so worked up, wound so tightly, but in a moment like this, Myungsoo still couldn’t curse? He swallowed it. Sungyeol saw Myungsoo actually swallow the swear down. Because in this particular, little first-year’s mind, it was better to punch his senior than to say “fucking accounting.”

But Myungsoo had a point, and Sungyeol finally saw it, clear as day. And just like that, the old impression that he had of Kim Myungsoo was caving in. 

“What? Why are you laughing?” the kid sounded more confused than irritated. “What’s so funny?” had a bit more bite to it.

“This whole situation,” Sungyeol answered and finally got off of the other. “It’s so...ridiculous.” He was about to swear but decided against it, especially after seeing what he had just seen.

“I don’t get it,” Myungsoo mumbled as he sat up too and scooted a good distance away from the other. But he was still on all fours, ready.

“I was wrong about you. I see that now,” Sungyeol was a big enough man to admit that. “Sorry,” he apologized casually and then chuckled again, only because Myungsoo looked so dumbfounded.

Myungsoo blinked a few times, staring off at a distance, as he plopped his butt down onto the tile. “Oh, me too. I’m sorry,” he said but it sounded like his mind was still somewhere else. “I didn’t know that Dongwoo was having such a hard time.”

Sungyeol raised his eyebrows. So it seemed like some of his words during the fight had sunken into Myungsoo’s head too. Sungyeol began chuckling again and looked down at his hands. “How were you supposed to know? Dongwoo doesn’t really tell anyone about it. He doesn’t want anyone to worry,” as Sungyeol reasoned it out, all of the sudden his grudge against Myungsoo seemed so petty. Why was he being like this? What was he so unfair to Myungsoo? Was it because of jealousy? Yes, it probably was. Some deeply hidden jealousy that Sungyeol didn’t even know that he had. It just fired out of him, instinctually.

But at that moment, seeing Myungsoo dab the sweat away from his purple face and wincing when he touched his split lip, there was nothing to be envied at all.

* * *

After a few more minutes in the bathroom spent tidying up themselves, they went back into the classroom and to Bora. She immediately asked if the two of them had fought, and they both denied it in unison.

“Then why do you both have cuts on your lips?” she challenged.

“We do?” Sungyeol touched his lip and acted like it was a new discovery. “Huh, when did that get there?” That tickled Myungsoo and the younger was chuckling to himself as he sat down. Sungyeol smiled too, even though it hurt. “Let’s just start the project.”

* * *

Myungsoo always thought it strange that his one-sided love was born out of a bathroom brawl, but that was what happened. Before then, he thought Sungyeol was some haughty second-year that looked down on him, but after that fight, they were finally seeing eye to eye. And there was something about the way Sungyeol apologized then too. Even though he had laughed through it, it was sincere, and it moved Myungsoo. And Sungyeol’s smile then too, moved his heart. Myungsoo sat himself down then, listless, thinking “What is this? Why do I feel like this?” A bit later, he realized that that was the exact moment when he fell for Sungyeol.

It didn’t take long either for Myungsoo to see Sungyeol falling for him too. After the fight and the group project, they sat by each other in class, and they sat by each other at lunch, and they just sat by each other all of the time, whether it was outside on the quad before class or at their school’s soccer game. They were together constantly and almost talking constantly too. But those were marks of their budding friendship, not of Sungyeol’s affections. What were marks of that were how Sungyeol’s eyes used to light up when they say each other for the first time that day, how easily Myungsoo used to render him speechless after doing something simple like saving him a seat, how happy Sungyeol used to be in his presence, like he couldn’t get enough. But Sungyeol was only falling, falling deeper, falling slowly, but he never fell completely.

There was a marked difference one day, in his behavior. It started out as just a sour mood, but it never sweetened to the extent that it once had been. 

But for Myungsoo, his love continued for a good while longer. It lasted for so long that being in a one sided-love just became part of his daily routine. He brushed his teeth, ate breakfast, went to school, and thought of Sungyeol. It was just what he did, what he was used to doing. 

Often he’d catch himself saying “if only he’d love me back,” but every time it had less heart in it. It was like someone saying that they were hungry when they weren’t or that they wanted to go home when they were already there. They were just words that he used to mean but now were a habit to say.

I guess it would be inaccurate to say that Myungsoo had completely fallen out of love. Since it was so ingrained in him, a tendril always remained, a tendril that would pull him back in and under the other’s spell. So it came in waves, this one-sided love. Sometimes it would last a month, sometimes days, sometimes only for a few hours.

Myungsoo couldn’t understand why he was like this. This wasn’t how he imagined love would be. But it was how his love was. And now, after returning from the army, he’d been pulled in by the undertow and was awashed in this wretched love again.

Maybe because he was always left with this burning question: what would it be like to date Lee Sungyeol?

He’d soon find out.

* * *

Sungyeol couldn’t believe that he was doing this. It wasn’t like he didn’t have a romantic bone in his body. He had a few. But never did he think that he’d want to romance Kim Myungsoo, again.

That’s right, he wanted to make Myungsoo his when they first met all of those years ago. He hadn’t expected the younger to be so grounded and mature yet so innocent at times. Sungyeol had always liked puzzles and piecing together Kim Myungsoo brought him joy. But when Sungyeol had finally put the last piece in place, figured him out, Sungyeol saw that they were incompatible, at least then they were. He was a little too innocent. Back then, Myungsoo believed in an end-all and be-all love. He had yet to have his first love. And Sungyeol, he didn’t want to be that. First loves never lasted, not in Sungyeol’s experience. And he wanted to be by Myungsoo’s side for a long time. He liked his companionship. He wanted to preserve it. So although it was mean of him, Sungyeol was cold to Myungsoo for a while, letting his heart cool along with his attitude. He made an effort to pick out everything that Myungsoo did that irked him and irritated him. He made a  _ great _ effort to do so because it was hard. They got along so well. There were few things for him to pick at. But there were things: Myungsoo’s excessive shyness, how he’d zone out while other were talking, what foods he liked and didn’t like, and even the cologne he wore then. And after a few days of this, it worked. Sungyeol only saw Myungsoo as a friend, no, as a best friend.

Myungsoo changed over the years. He had his first love and his first heartbreak. And Sungyeol saw him through it all. 

Sungyeol changed too. He became more skeptical about some things, but love wasn’t one of them. No, Myungsoo actually had him buying into the end-all and be-all love crap and had Sungyeol buying a bouquet of balloons and a packet of rose petals. An event, Sungyeol was going to do an event for Myungsoo and confess his feelings that resurfaced three months ago (or maybe even before then).

It would be an understatement to say that Sungyeol missed Myungsoo the year that they were apart. He yearned for his dear old friend. He yearned to hang out with him, to talk to him, to play with him once more. And they did, whenever Myungsoo was on break, but it only lasted for a few hours before he was gone again. And Sungyeol wanted him to stay. Every parting then was harder than the last.

Finally, three months ago, Myungsoo was discharged. And Sungyeol was over the moon. Soon he was more than just that, he was head over heels when he  _ really _ saw the changes in Myungsoo. Those few hours during the break weren’t enough for Sungyeol to realize how much the service changed Myungsoo. They say that going into the army makes you into a man, and well, Myungsoo didn’t disprove that. The younger had bulked up a bit, with both fat and muscle, and it looked good. His manners were always a bit rougher. He still didn’t curse, but words came out shaper, louder. He also wasn’t as shy as he used to be. He could easily converse with strangers, like Woohyun when Sungyeol introduced his new friend to his best friend. And Sungyeol was proud to see this change in him, exceptionally proud when Woohyun had that dazed look in his eyes when he first met Myungsoo. It was like Woohyun didn’t believe that this Myungsoo was the Myungsoo that Sungyeol had been talking to him about for a solid year. And Sungyeol could hardly believe it too.

Sungyeol could hardly believe that he was falling for Myungsoo again. So he did what he did last time and waited for it to pass. He waited a month and the younger still made his heart flutter. So he waited some more and more, until it had been three months and Sungyeol had spent another restless night with Myungsoo on his mind. So he fucked it all and finally accepted it. This wasn’t going to pass. He was genuinely in love with Kim Myungsoo and he was going to confess.

And he did the very next day, unable to wait any longer.

* * *

He invited Myungsoo to his apartment. There was candles on the table, a red wine breathing in the decanter, and a decently Sungyeol-cooked meal on the stove. Sungyeol was quite proud of the set up and even prouder of the curtain of balloons he had blocking the front door. It was worth it just to hear Myungsoo giggle out a “What is this?” after he entered in Sungyeol’s passcode and opened the door. The younger giggled his way through the balloons and it caught in his throat when he noticed the dimmed lights and candles flickering on the table. “What is this?” he repeated. This time he sounded almost scared. And Sungyeol knew why. Out of all the changes that Myungsoo had been through, this one was going to be the biggest, changing from friends to lovers.

“Myungsoo, shoot me.”

“What?!” Myungsoo wasn’t scared anymore, just confused.

“Just do it,” Sungyeol urged him with a warm smile.

Myungsoo did as he was told, morphed his hand into the shape of a gun, and “shot” the other with a soft “bang” slipping through his lips.

“Ah,” Sungyeol clutched his heart and then collapsed onto his knees, groaning all of the while. He then pulled his hands away from his chest, letting the rose petals that he was holding into his hands drip onto the floor. Myungsoo laughed. “See what you do to me?” Sungyeol asked in a shaking voice, still pretending to be dying. He then “threw up” the rest of the rose petals that he had and fell onto the floor, dead.

“I make you bleed rose petals?” Myungsoo joked.

“Yes among other things,” Sungyeol’s voice was back to normal as he stood up. “That,” he pointed to the mess of rose petals behind him as he walked closer to Myungsoo. “That was supposed to be how you’re ‘killing’ me.”

“How nice?” Myungsoo retorted and snorted. He was grinning widely and staring down at the petals, every so often casting a shy glance up at the other and smiling even wider.

“It is!” Sungyeol insisted. “You’re doing a number on me, Myungsoo. You make my heart race. You make me smile, just being with you. And you make me want to do these cheesy ass things just to bring a smile to your face.”

“Really?” Myungsoo asked, barely moving his lips. His eyes weren’t on Sungyeol’s either. They were on his chest. There was a petal stuck to Sungyeol’s shirt and Myungsoo plucked it off and was holding it tenderly in his hands, as if it were really a part of Sungyeol.

“Yes,” Sungyeol paused and swallowed down his fear before he continued. “But most of all, you’re making me fall for you, Myungsoo. So will you just let  _ me _ make  _ you _ my boyfriend?”

Myungsoo finally looked up at him and smiled, so wide that his lips were threatening to tear. But he reined it in enough to say, “I was starting to think that you’d never ask.”

* * *

** COMING UP NEXT! **

After years of being best friends, how will Myungyeol handle the transition between friends and lovers? Will Sungyeol "bleed" more rose petals? What about Woohyun? How will he take this inevitable turn of events? And just how sticky is this double-sided tape of love?

And where the Hell is Kim Sunggyu? Still not in the next episode! But stay tuned anyway!


	3. Episode III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Approximately two episodes after episode one

Woohyun knew well how Sungyeol and Myungsoo met. It was one of the first stories that Sungyeol had told him while Myungsoo was still away. How Myungsoo accepted him even after a misunderstanding and a fight like that left a deep impression on  Sungyeol, and on Woohyun too when he heard it. It seemed like those two were destined to be friends (and possibly something more).

Myungsoo and Woohyun were destined to meet too. What they were destined to become, Woohyun did not know, but he did know that Kim Myungsoo was meant to be a part of his life, even without Sungyeol in the picture.

Woohyun had never told Sungyeol this, nor did he know if Myungsoo did, but he’d met Myungsoo before they were introduced. A week before, which doesn’t seem like a lot of time or enough time to make a difference, but it was enough time for Woohyun to start to develop feelings for the man.

At first, that feeling was intrigue. They met right outside of Woohyun’s workplace, which doesn’t seem out of the ordinary. You can pass by people easily that way, people who weren't important then but are so important now. But it wasn't like that for them. It wasn't just their paths crossing. It was their paths joining, for even a slight moment, before they separated again.

Woohyun worked as a music teacher at an all-boys elementary school and Myungsoo was a stranger, dressed in all black, hoodie pulled over his head, and was pacing nervously in front of the school’s gates. Unfortunately, Woohyun wasn't wholly unfamiliar with strange men lurking outside of the school’s gates. The world was full of estranged fathers, wanting to see their sons, and weird and perverted men. And judging by how the man in black kept moving up to and then backing away from the gate, Woohyun thought that he'd come across another.

Woohyun decided to protect his students and confront the man. “Hello, creepy stranger, loitering at an elementary school, dressed in all black. What are you doing?” he shouted in a friendly tone, hoping to startle the lurker and get him to run away. But he himself was startled instead.

The man pulled down his hood, revealing his face that was unlike any estranged father or run-of-the-mill pervert that Woohyun had seen. The man was, well, completely the opposite of Woohyun’s expectations. A high nose, dark and twinkling eyes, cheeks that were slim and plump at the same time, all of those features had Woohyun wondering if he’d stepped outside of reality for a moment and into the realm of fairy tales, that this wasn’t a neighborhood pervert stalking the school’s gates but a long-lost prince trying to gain entry back into his kingdom. Woohyun shook that notion violently out of his head. He’d been teaching little kids for way too long for him to jump straight to that alternative reality. No matter how he looked, the stranger was still strange.

So Woohyun regained his composure and crossed his arms over his chest, while staring the handsome creeper down (and maybe checking him out at the same time. He could multi-task).

The man smiled nervously. “Is this the all-boys elementary school?” he asked.

“Yes,” Woohyun drawled out the answer cautiously.

“Oh,” the other gasped it pleasant surprise. The smile turned genuine. The man looked away from the teacher and towards the school. “It looks different.”

Woohyun tucked his hands into his pockets and replied, “We remodeled two years ago.”

“Oh,” the man seemed to finally understand. While nodding, he turned back to Woohyun “Does Hong seonsaengnim still teach here?”

“The math teacher?” Woohyun asked for clarification and the other nodded enthusiastically (and cutely). The teacher gulped and shifted in his spot. “Yes. Why?”

“I was a student of hers!” the man exclaimed, putting a hand over his chest. “I wanted to stop by and say hi because it’s been a little over two years since I’ve last seen her.”

“Just two years?” Woohyun was surprised. This man had obviously graduated from the school years ago (or else he looked incredibly old for his age, which Woohyun doubted), but not many students returned back to the school to visit their teachers and especially none this fellow’s age. What kind of person was he?

“Eung,” he hummed with a tight-lipped smile and nod.  “She’s my life’s mentor,” he explained, but it still didn’t quite add up to Woohyun. He wasn’t sure what to make of all of this. And so when the man asked: “Can I come in?” Woohyun gave in because he wanted a bit more time to figure the man out.

“Sure, follow me. I’ll get you a visitor’s pass,” Woohyun offered as he gestured at the man to follow him. At least at the welcome desk, when they’d be getting a visitor’s pass, Woohyun could catch his name, and maybe his eye could catch his number. Unfortunately for Woohyun, he’d have to learn of Myungsoo’s name later. The vice principal caught Woohyun in the hallway. It wasn’t even an important conversation. The vice principal was just relaying to Woohyun a mildly interesting thing that his cat did that morning. Honestly, Woohyun couldn’t care less about the cat, but the v.p. was his superior. And so Woohyun listened not-so-patiently, bouncing on the balls of his feet and went to the man’s side at the desk when the v.p. finally walked away. When he got there, the man was already done signing in. “Where’s Hong seonsaengnim?” he asked when he noticed Woohyun was with him again.

Woohyun couldn’t even answer that before he was cut off: “Is that who I think it is?”

“Saem!” the man exclaimed and went to up to his old math teacher, hugging her warmly. And she hugged him right back. Woohyun watched them for a few seconds. They really appeared to be close, but, seriously, she could’ve at least greeted her former student by name. Or better yet, introduce him to Woohyun. But no, they seemed too busy catching up to notice Woohyun hovering just a few steps away from them.

Woohyun didn’t know what else to do but to leave. It didn’t matter, too much, Woohyun tried to assure himself of it. If those two were really as close as they seemed to be, the man would be back. They would meet again. But Woohyun didn’t expect them to meet again so soon.

* * *

Their second meeting was only two days later, at a cafe early in the evening. And like last time, it was just Woohyun and him. And like last time, Myungsoo was caught in suspicious circumstances. But Woohyun didn’t know that it was Myungsoo stealing his coffee, or at least not yet.

“Oh wait! W-wait!” Woohyun stammered and caught the other by the wrist. He didn’t mean to reenact some drama scene, but Woohyun desperately wanted his sweet, caramel macchiato after the long day he had and the long night of grading that was to come. So Woohyun explained himself as quickly as he could, “That’s mine. That coffee...is...mine.”

Halfway through his explanation, Woohyun finally looked up and saw that it was the not-really-a-pervert-but-really-handsome visitor, who had abandoned his all-black outfit for a suit. His hair wasn’t stuck to his forehead like before either but slicked back, showing off his entire face. He gave off a completely different feel than the other day. Back then, he definitely felt younger than Woohyun and a bit out of sorts. But now he had everything sorted out, every strand in place, and tail tucked in. He looked chic and cool.

And now Woohyun was feeling hot and out of sorts, especially after seeing the other’s reaction.

“Oh! It is! Sorry!” the man blubbered, putting the coffee cup back down. Woohyun saw the other flush in embarrassment. “I wasn’t thinking. I just grabbed it,” the man continued to defend himself. His hands went up to touch his hot cheeks for a second before shaking his head and getting a good look at the drink. “I can’t even drink something that sweet. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“It’s alright,” Woohyun quickly replied and even more quickly put a cap on his drink. There was nothing wrong with his drink, but why did he feel like there was now? So Woohyun wanted to take the focus off of his drink and onto the other, “You’re dressed better than the last time.” The man cocked his head. He couldn’t remember. If Woohyun couldn’t jog his memory, he was about to feel very silly: “At the school.”

“Hm? Oh!” the man exclaimed, finally realizing, and Woohyun breathed a sigh of relief. And to top it off, he smiled. He straightened out his suit proudly. Was he showing it off? “Yes, I am. I just came back from an interview.” Yes, yes he was showing off. The man took his cup. And Woohyun caught a glimpse of the dark, almost black liquid swirling inside. This guy must like everything black. “Thank you for last time, by the way,” he said.

“It’s no problem,” Woohyun said as he played with the cuff on his coffee. “How did the interview go?” he tried to keep the conversation going.

The man nodded. “Well, very well. I passed into the next round,” he boasted, but then cut it with a slight chuckle. It seemed like it was the first time that he told someone this, or the first time anyone had asked him. He was excited but anxious.

“Congratulations,” Woohyun responded. “What job?”

“Accounting, at a small firm,” the man answered and stepped away from the counter so that others could pick up their drinks. Woohyun followed too, and followed closely.

“Really?” Woohyun’s voice was low but still expressed his shock. “I have a friend who’s an accountant, although you’d never be able to tell. He doesn’t really fit the nerd stereotype.”

The man looked over at him, puzzled. “Do I?” he asked, still chuckling.

“No,” Woohyun replied quickly. He looked the other up and down. Woohyun could think of several...hundred words of how to describe the other, but “nerd” wasn’t one of them. He chuckled lowly before continuing, “In fact, I’m now wondering why accountants have that reputation.”

This time the man burst out with a loud laugh that startled Woohyun slightly (but also made him happy that his comment went over well). The man then took another step away from the counter, since more people had placed their orders. However, by doing so, he also stepped closer to Woohyun. “So you work at the school? Are you a teacher?” he asked as he took the step.

“Yep,” Woohyun answered, trying to keep his cool even though he felt the heat from his coffee leach onto his hands (and the heat spreading all over).

“Gym teacher?” the man guessed after a second or two of thought.

Woohyun shook his head and corrected him, “No, music.”

“Oh,” the man’s eyes were as round as his mouth as he muttered that.

Woohyun snorted. “Oh,” he mimicked the other. “Why did you go like that?” He then repeated the sound once more, “Oh.”

The man shook his head, snapping out of it. And with every shake, his head hung lower and lower, hiding his shy smile. “You don’t seem to fit the stereotype either,” he admitted.

“Hm?” Woohyun hummed, while trying to catch his eye again. “How so?”

The man raised his head again but was still avoiding Woohyun’s gaze. “Well…It’s like...” he failed at starting, but luckily for him, he was saved by his phone. The man pulled it out of his pocket and checked who was calling before saying, “Sorry. I have to take this.” As he passed by Woohyun, he waved and said, “I’ll see you later.”

“How?” Woohyun muttered back, but the other didn’t hear it. And like last time, Woohyun couldn’t catch his name. He tried to read the one scrawled onto the cup, but all he could catch was the character “soo.” The man’s hand covered the rest. However, Woohyun couldn’t stay disappointed for too long because he’d rather focus on another fact. He smiled as he walked out and spoke to himself, “We were flirting just now, weren’t we?”

* * *

Flirting or not, it didn’t seem to matter because later Woohyun learned that his “soo” was Sungyeol’s “Myungsoo,” his precious Myungsoo that Woohyun had suspected that Sungyeol harbored a crush for. And Woohyun too was crushed by this new revelation, not just because of Sungyeol, or was it all because of him, because Woohyun recalled each and every story that Sungyeol had ever told him about Myungsoo. They all came flooding back to him at that moment. There was that time when Myungsoo got drunk and sent Sungyeol pictures of sheep and one was peeing. And there was that one time when he asked Sungyeol if pelicans were the pets of fishermen. And then there was that one time Myungsoo fell, and that other time, and the other time. Hell, Myungsoo practically fell onto his handsome face as he came into Sungyeol’s apartment that night. Woohyun knew the stories. He knew of Myungsoo’s interests and hobbies. He knew nearly everything about Myungsoo through Sungyeol except one crucial piece of information: how Kim Myungsoo looked.

And if Woohyun had just known that, he would’ve acted differently those other two times that they met. He would’ve acted differently so that he wouldn’t feel like this now (or would that really have changed things?).

However, those two previous meetings were never mentioned to Sungyeol, not by Woohyun and not by Myungsoo either. But when they said their goodbyes, Myungsoo did say that it was good to see Woohyun again.

Woohyun was confused. Why were they hiding it? Was this to be their little secret? Was it even worth being called that much? It wasn’t like they did much. They only met. They were going to meet anyways through Sungyeol, so did it really matter?

It did. At least to Woohyun, it made all of the difference. They had met not just once but twice before they were “scheduled” to meet, and that had to mean something.

Or maybe Woohyun was looking for meaning where there was none to be found.

* * *

“Woohyun! You’ll never guess!”

The expected call came early in the morning, just a few days after Woohyun and Myungsoo met up for chicken and talked. In all honesty, Woohyun expected this call days earlier and he expected it to be from someone else. But here he was on the way to work and on the phone with Lee Sungyeol. “You confessed to Myungsoo,” Woohyun guessed, judging by the fact that it was Sungyeol that had called. It made Woohyun start to wonder why Myungsoo hadn’t. He’d told the younger to do it days ago.

“Wait...how did you?” Sungyeol stammered on the other line.

“And he said yes and now you’re dating,” Woohyun filled in the rest of the blanks and sunk lower into his seat on the bus.

He was met with a long pause. “Did Myungsoo already tell you?” Sungyeol finally spoke after a the silence. He whined, “He said that I could do it.”

“No,” Woohyun mumbled. His finger was drawing circles on the cold window. “I just knew.”

“Oh,” Sungyeol muttered. “How astute of you.” He grumbled, “You kinda sucked the fun out of me telling you.”

Woohyun gritted his teeth and sighed through his nose. “Do it again,” he offered, but he was only going to say it once. He pulled on the cord, telling the bus to drop him off at this stop. As he was getting off, Sungyeol was excitedly screeching into the phone.

“Really?” After a brief pause, and a clearing of his throat, Sungyeol continued to yell into the phone, “Woohyun! You’ll never guess what just happened.”

Woohyun rolled his eyes. “What? What on earth could’ve possibly happened?” he played along.

“Get this,” Sungyeol primed Woohyun for the hit. “I, Lee Sungyeol, confessed to Kim Myungsoo, and now, wait for it...we’re dating!” And there it was, again.

“Oh my goodness!” Woohyun gasped, even covering his mouth in shock even though Sungyeol couldn’t see. But the people around him could. Woohyun didn’t care though and continued with the charade, “I would have never fathomed this is my wildest dreams! You’re gay?!”

“Yup!” Sungyeol chirped proudly. “As gay as you are, and my new lover is also my best friend.”

“How lucky,” this time, Woohyun couldn’t control his tone from dropping into something dreary and depressing.

“I am, I am finally lucky in life.” But Woohyun’s tone couldn’t bring Sungyeol down. He was as cheery as ever. Actually, no, he was happier than Woohyun had heard him in a long time. The last time Sungyeol was this happy was when Myungsoo was being discharged. “I dated some shitty people,” Sungyeol confessed.

“I know,” Woohyun readily and quickly agreed. “I’ve questioned your life choices.”

“But not this one?” Sungyeol sounded really apprehensive as he asked. It was obvious. He wanted Woohyun’s stamp of approval on this relationship.  
“No, this is probably the best decision you’ve ever made,” Woohyun assured him.

“It is,” Sungyeol sounded far more confident now. “Thanks, Woohyun.”

“Anytime,” Woohyun responded half-heartedly, but he still meant it. A part of him wished that he wasn’t like this. A part of him did want to support any of this. That was the part being eaten away by jealousy. Woohyun had to be careful not to let it swallow him whole, and to do that, he need to end this conversation, now:  “Listen, I got to get to work. I’m swamped.”

“Oh, okay. Maybe the three of us can meet up afterwards...” Sungyeol started to suggest, but Woohyun cut him off.

“No!” Woohyun bellowed and hung up the phone. Uh oh, maybe too much of him had given way to his jealousy already. “Maybe that wasn’t a good idea. He might get suspicious,” he muttered and contemplated calling Sungyeol back. But ultimately, he decided against it. “Eh, it’s Sungyeol. I’ll be fine.”

There was a difference, a significant one, like the fact that Woohyun had met with Myungsoo twice before being introduced, there was a difference between the expectation of an unpleasant event, however certain the mind be told to consider it, and certainty itself. In spite of himself, Woohyun had sadly hoped that this day would never happen, and that hope increased with every day that had passed with no word of it from Myungsoo. He’d hoped that something incredible (and maybe even magical) would happen to prevent this relationship from ever starting. Maybe Myungsoo had second guesses? Or maybe Sungyeol had them? Or some other friend suggested that it was a horrible idea and that it should never be attempted? But all of those hopes were foolish, and Woohyun condemned his heart for the lurking flattery which only just heightened the pain after hearing the news from Sungyeol.

Lee Sungyeol and Kim Myungsoo were together. And Nam Woohyun was left out, alone.

* * *

Or at least Woohyun had thought he’d be left alone. But when school ended that day and he walked out of the gates, he was met with the happy couple, who had been holding hands until Sungyeol broke the hold to approach Woohyun. He invited Woohyun to go bowling with them, quite forcefully too. Why? Because Woohyun had sounded depressed and stressed out earlier on the phone and Sungyeol wanted to lift his spirits. How sweet. They wanted Woohyun to come with them on what would be their first official outing as a couple. Woohyun was besides himself.

“Go! Just go!” Woohyun barked like the dog he was acting. He put his hands on his hips, staring at them in disbelief, as he huffed, “Why are you two trying to involve me in your relationship?”

Sungyeol mimicked his stance. “Because you’re being sulky, and it’ll be more fun with you there,” he kept insisting that this hellish gathering should happen.

“You have no idea what I consider to be fun do you,” Woohyun snapped back, placing a hand over his heart as his eyes beseeched Sungyeol. Not one ounce of him wanted to be a spectator to their first date.

“I know fun,” Sungyeol spoke with a scoff. “All you know is how to be sulky,” he retorted. He then smiled broadly as he came closer to Woohyun and placed a hand on his shoulder (although he was hesitant about it, as if Woohyun would snap at him). “Come on. It’ll be fun I promise,” he urged the other, shaking him.

“No!” Woohyun kept firm and then kept his butt firmly planted on the ground after he plopped down. He crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not going!” He closed his eyes and dug his chin into his chest. Maybe if he ignored them, they would just go away.

“Is your shoulder still hurting?”

Well, Woohyun couldn’t just ignore that. That was Myungsoo, finally inserting himself into the conversation, and crouching down next to little, sulking Woohyun. Woohyun raised his head to look at him. His hand went to his shoulder.

“Shoulder?” Sungyeol asked, and the both of them looked up at the guy still standing.

Myungsoo stood back up to join his boyfriend. “Remember when he hit the goalpost while playing soccer?” Myungsoo asked, and Sungyeol nodded. “It flares up.”

“If it’s hurting or not,” Woohyun began to growl, but he lost confidence as the two of them looked down at him. He tried to continue, but he couldn’t get it all out. “Why does it matter…” He wanted to ask “why does it matter to you?” to Myungsoo; however, the words wouldn’t come out.

And what he had ended up asking left the other two confused. “What kind of question is that?” Sungyeol asked. “Of course it does.” He turned towards his boyfriend. “Did he hit his head on the goalpost too?”

Myungsoo shrugged. “I can’t remember,” he confessed. “But he’d probably hit his head at some point in time,” he confirmed that statement with a sharp nod.

“Right? This is Nam Woohyun, we’re talking about. He’d get hurt standing in place,” Sungyeol teased. It was all in jest, but they didn’t know how true it was. Woohyun was getting hurt just by looking at them right now. And while they started to talk about all of the times that Woohyun had accidentally almost killed himself, Woohyun decided that it was time to get up and actually go die in a corner somewhere. But he didn’t get too far before Sungyeol caught up to him. “Woah! Hey! Where are you going?” Sungyeol asked as he pulled the other back to his side.

“Away!” Woohyun barked again and continued on his way.

Woohyun could hear Myungsoo saying, “Maybe we should just let him go.” But that couldn’t change Sungyeol’s mind. Sungyeol chased after him again and this time stood in front of him to stop him.

“I don’t know why you’re so cranky right now, but there’s no reason to take it out on us. What did we do?” Sungyeol pointed out. Woohyun looked up at Sungyeol and then over to Myungsoo. They seriously looked worried, and Woohyun was seriously acting like a crazy person. “Take out your frustration on the pins instead,” Sungyeol suggested and mimicked throwing a bowling ball.

Woohyun ground his teeth, looking back and forth between the two. Sungyeol kept “throwing” the bowling ball, as if that alone should be enough to convince him, and Myungsoo, he chose right now as the perfect time to space out and was looking off into the distance. So Woohyun couldn’t read what he wanted. But that was okay. Woohyun knew what he needed to do. “Fine. Let’s go,” he gave in.

He really needed to get used to these two as a couple.

* * *

“I haven’t been bowling in a long time,” Myungsoo exclaimed as soon as they walked into the bowling alley. Suddenly, he seemed very happy. Just moments before, he was still spacing out as Sungyeol was telling Woohyun about the day he had. But that all changed once they stepped inside. And when they were getting their shoes, he tried to pay for the game but was told to pay after they’d played.

“The loser is going to pay. Don’t get too hasty,” Sungyeol said as he grabbed his shoes and went down to their lane. The other two followed suit and joined Sungyeol at the lane, who was already changing into his shoes. He then glanced down at Woohyun’s feet. “You’re going to need socks or they’re going to stink of your feet,” he remarked. The teacher wasn’t currently wearing socks with his loafers, and his feet were, indeed, stinky.

“Good point. I’ll be back once I get socks,” Woohyun admitted. He turned around with the shoes still in hand. This was his chance to escape! He could just run to get the “socks” and just never come back!

“I have extra,” but Myungsoo had to ruin it all. And worst of all, Woohyun couldn’t even be upset by it because the younger looked so happy to help.

“Thank you,” Woohyun grumbled as he took the spare socks. “You’re so prepared. A little too prepared.” As he sat down to put on the socks, he looked up at Myungsoo. “Why do you have extra socks?” he asked.

“Convenience,” the other replied plainly as he stuffed his feet into the shoes.

Woohyun scoffed, “Well, you’re dead meat once I get these on.”

“That’s the spirit!” Sungyeol exclaimed and clapped the teacher on the back.

Myungsoo then popped up, shoes on. “Let’s play! Let’s play!” he cheered and went to grab a ball.

And with that, the games began.

* * *

“Woah! You’re good,” Sungyeol praised Myungsoo after his turn was over.

His boyfriend cocked his head. “I knocked only 8 pins over. And that was after getting a gutterball,” he remarked and pointed at the scoreboard. When he himself looked up at it, he laughed at his own score.

Sungyeol shook his head, clicking his tongue. “You’re too good. I’m gonna have to pay,” he retorted and then took his turn.

This, that, it was all suspicious to Woohyun. Well, not the fact that the two were flirting (and right in front of his face), but the fact that it seemed like Lee Sungyeol was actually going to lose on purpose. This was a man who normally put his life on the line for silly games like “who can drink a bottle of cola the fastest.” Woohyun never considered that a man like that would ever lose intentionally just so that he could pay. What kind of prize was that? For Woohyun, it was the worst punishment imaginable: to pay for this date. So he was going to play like his life was on the line.

In any case, Woohyun’s suspicions proved true when Sungyeol threw a gutterball and then only knocked down four pins in his second throw.

“I almost cursed,” that was a lie. He wasn’t about to curse, not with that broad smile on his face. “Has this lane been oiled? It doesn’t seem like it,” the excuses came pouring out. “Nam Woohyun, come out!” he called for the teacher to take his turn.

And Woohyun was going to, but not before calling the other out himself, “Are you trying to lose on purpose?”

Sungyeol’s smile faltered, and his eyes darted over towards Myungsoo. “No, I’m taking it seriously,” another lie.

“Then play seriously,” Woohyun urged him. He couldn’t stand to watch this anymore. So he decided to light a fire under the other. “I will.”

And that did the trick. He could already see Sungyeol’s eyes blazing with his usual tenacity. Unfortunately, with Sungyeol’s tenacity came his true skill, and after a few more frames, Sungyeol was in first and the other two were neck and neck for last place.

“Mine doesn’t roll straight,” Woohyun lamented when his ball curved the opposite way that he wanted it too, again. “It must be the watch.” He then proceeded to take it off.

“Sure, blame it on the watch,” Myungsoo teased him from the sidelines.

“It gets me off balance,” Woohyun argued. “I kept leaning towards one side, like this.” As to prove his point, Woohyun leaned heavily to the side that was holding the watch.

Myungsoo laughed. “Then I look forward to seeing the change,” he challenged the other as he got up to take his turn.

“You will!” Woohyun shouted at him, but Myungsoo didn’t look back at him. He just shook his head and kept laughing. And Myungsoo did just well enough to pull ahead of Woohyun. He got a spare.

Sungyeol whooped and welcomed his boyfriend back with open arms. Woohyun’s grip tightened on his watch. “Nice! You are good!” Sungyeol praised him. He then pulled away. “But sorry, I have to beat you because I don’t want to pay for Woohyun.” Well, at least Sungyeol finally realized that. Myungsoo nodded in understanding and gave the other some fighting words of his own.

“I’d like to see you try.”

Well, Woohyun didn’t want to see any of this. And he surely didn’t want to see Sungyeol get his second strike of the night. “See! You guys need to work out more like I do,” Sungyeol boasted and flexed his muscles.

“I work out!” Woohyun argued. He was about to flex too, but his hand caught the ball return on its way up. “Ack!” he yelped.

“You okay?” Myungsoo asked, who was suddenly at his side and had taken his hand for inspection.

“I hit my hand on this thing,” Woohyun explained, pointing at the machine and then kicking it with his foot as punishment, which also hurt. Now he had a throbbing pain in three places.

“Oh is that all?” Myungsoo muttered.

Woohyun looked over at him. Was that all? Was that all the comfort that Myungsoo could muster for him? Was that all of the care that Myungsoo had for him? Woohyun took his hand away from the other’s inspection. “It’s fine,” he grumbled and went to bowl. He managed to knock over some more pins, but it wasn’t nearly enough to pull ahead of Myungsoo. “I’ve been playing badly ever since I hurt my hand,” he complained as he sat back down.

“Maybe I should hit my hand too so that I’d have an excuse,” Myungsoo was now adding salt to his wound by coyly teasing him now. He pretended to hit it against the ball return as he went to get the ball. “Ah, my hand,” he cried in mock pain. Sungyeol laughed, but Woohyun couldn’t. He couldn’t even laugh when Myungsoo only managed to knock two pins over. “Oh, it must be my injury,” Myungsoo teased him again as he came back down.

“Haha very funny,” Woohyun remarked dryly.

“Maybe your fingers are crooked and that’s why you can’t bowl straight,” Sungyeol suggested before he got up to take his turn.

“Oh,” Myungsoo muttered when he walked up to Woohyun’s side. Woohyun followed his gaze down to his hands. “They kind of are crooked.”

“Will you stop it?!” Woohyun finally snapped. Myungsoo nodded and sat down at his seat. He wasn’t watching Sungyeol play. He wasn’t watching anything. He was just zoning out again. Woohyun brought his crumpled fingers into a fist.

Sungyeol was right. There was no reason for him to take his frustrations out on the new couple. They hadn’t done anything wrong. So Woohyun was going to try to calm himself down and try to have fun, even if it killed him.

* * *

And the fun finally came. It happened after that dreadful round was over and Sungyeol suggested that they get a pitcher of beer before playing the next round. The alcohol loosened Woohyun up and allowed him to accept things. Myungsoo and Sungyeol were together, and they would be for a long, long time. But, even given that, he could still have a lot of fun with the two of them. Why? They were still his friends. And like a good friend, he should be happy for them.

“This would be more fun with four people. Then we could split into teams,” Sungyeol declared as they were about to start off another round. “Me and Myungsoo against you and…” he paused, failing to come up with a fourth member to their party. “You need to date so that we all can date,” he concluded.

“Sounds like so much fun,” Woohyun remarked dryly and then took a sip of his beer.

“It would be,” Myungsoo agreed, with almost a similar tone. He then got up to take his turn, not looking at anyone but the bowling balls in front of him. “What about your friend Sunggyu?” he asked as he took his time choosing his next ball.

“What about him?” Woohyun shot back with another question, curious.

Myungsoo finally picked up a ball and played with it in his hands. “Isn’t there something going on between you two?” he asked and then he raised the ball to his eye-level as if to inspect it for any blemishes.

“No, never,” Woohyun answered quickly. Myungsoo looked over at him, and Woohyun explained in more detail, “He’s my best friend, but I never thought of him like that. He’s more like a…” Woohyun stopped and hummed in thought before he finally settled on,  “...dad, or a really strange uncle. It depends on his mood that day.” Myungsoo laughed at that and went to bowl. He got another spare.

“Nice!” Sungyeol praised his boyfriend and welcomed him back with a high five. It was his turn now. “So when are we ever going to meet this ‘dad’ of yours?” he asked Woohyun when he got up.

“Hm? Sunggyu?” Woohyun asked, and Sungyeol nodded. “I’ve tried to get him to hang out with us a few times, but he always had some excuse not to come,” the teacher explained

“Really?” Myungsoo asked as he sat down besides Woohyun.

“Yep. I don’t think he’s very much enchanted with the idea of hanging out with my accountant friends,” he replied, more to the man next to him than the other.

But it was the other who responded. “So we aren’t cool enough to hang out with your dad?” Sungyeol asked. “That hurts.” He then took his ball and approached the lane. “He sounds like a jerk,” he remarked before throwing the ball roughly down the lane.

Woohyun rolled his eyes. Sungyeol always made snap judgements like that, especially when it came to Kim Sunggyu. When Sunggyu drove Woohyun to the school in the middle of the night in order to pick up the phone he’d left behind, then Sunggyu sounded like “a nice guy” to Sungyeol. When Woohyun remarked that Sungyeol had the same shirt as Sunggyu, then he sounded like “a man with good tastes.” When Woohyun pointed out a bucket hat that Sunggyu also owned, then he was “a man with no sense of style.” When Woohyun told them that Sunggyu could peel a melon with just his teeth, then he sounded like a beaver.

Every time Woohyun said something about Kim Sunggyu, Sungyeol always had something to say, no matter how conflicting it was.

“He can be rude sometimes, but he’s still a good dad,” Woohyun retorted. He was going to be on his best friend’s side no matter what (and especially now).

“Yeah, whatever,” Sungyeol mumbled back. He then put a finger to his lips. “I’m about to bowl. I need complete silence.”

But Woohyun didn’t give him complete silence. He scoffed and rolled his eyes. He had a feeling that Sungyeol and Sunggyu would get along. The two of them had an edge to them. They could be curt and say things without thinking. They could seem mean. But at the end of the day, they were both giant softees and pushovers. And they were particularly soft around people that they cared about. Like right now, Sungyeol was sacrificing his first official date with Myungsoo in order to cheer Woohyun up. This was how Lee Sungyeol showed his love, even though he’d just snapped at Woohyun to shut up.

But Woohyun was going to continue to ignore that request like how he ignores most of what Sungyeol says (and Sunggyu too for that matter) and turned towards Myungsoo who was still sitting next to him. There was something pressing on his mind: “Sunggyu has been hanging out a lot at home recently. It’s hard to get him to do anything.”

“Is he okay?” Myungsoo asked.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Woohyun replied with a shrug. Lately, Sunggyu had been working late and opting to spend his free time playing video games. And that change didn’t sit well with Woohyun. “The only way I can get him out recently is if we go out to get chicken,” he added.

Myungsoo laughed. “He likes chicken that much?”

“Actually, no. Not usually,” Woohyun responded with a frown. It confused him too. He’d only been doing it because it worked. He never really questioned why before. “I mean, he likes it but it’s not his favorite. It’s strange, isn’t it?”

Myungsoo just hummed in response, so Woohyun took it as a cue that this conversation was over. He turned to watch Sungyeol bowl, who was taking his time and was practicing his throw. And then Sungyeol noticed that his shoelaces were undone and had to tie them too, taking up even more time. Woohyun was about to sigh, but it caught in his throat when he felt a weight on his shoulder. Myungsoo had rested his head there, which wasn’t too unusual. He had done that several times before, but he’d never done it to Woohyun in front of his new boyfriend Sungyeol. Now that was strange, wasn’t it?

Well it wasn’t as strange as what Myungsoo did next. He sniffed Woohyun. A Woohyun that came straight from work, from teaching little kids, and hadn’t washed up in a long while. He didn’t even put on cologne. A Nam Woohyun that was probably a big pile of stink now.

Once again, it wasn’t like Woohyun hadn’t been sniffed by Myungsoo before. Kim Myungsoo was a curious creature and sniffed him and Sungyeol many, many times before. But once again, Myungsoo was sniffing another man in front of his boyfriend (still tying his shoes), and that wasn’t right, was it? Even though they were all friends? Woohyun had to remind him of that.

“Why did you just do that?” Woohyun asked.

Myungsoo gave a grimace-like smile and pulled on the flap along the seam on his shoulder. “This thing right here,” he answered. “It’s odd. And it tickles,” he added and wiped his nose with his hand.

“Did you wipe your nose on it?” Woohyun half-joked.

“No,” Myungsoo denied loudly. He then cleared his throat and defended himself more calmly, “I brushed against it. I promise.”

At that, Woohyun tried to smell it for himself to see what the deal was. “How does it smell?” he asked before inhaling the scent. He grimaced. He really should carry body spray with him.

Myungsoo thought it over carefully before answering, “Decent.” He then broke out into a laugh, probably because he felt awkward.

“I smell more than decent,” Woohyun argued, even though he believed that he smelled less than that.

“You smell nice,” Myungsoo yielded. “But this thing…” His finger hooked underneath the flap.

Woohyun watched the other play with the flap between his finger. “Why are you so fascinated by it?” he whispered.

“Don’t know,” Myungsoo responded, laced with another awkward laugh again. He withdrew his hand and moved away slightly. “It’s just…” as his voice drifted away, his hand went up to play with it again. And as he moved it closer, Woohyun did too. He couldn’t contain his own curiosity anymore, and he leaned in to sniff Myungsoo himself.

And it was nice. Myungsoo had definitely showered before coming here. He smelled like soap, but his natural musky scent was coming through too. It was crisp, light, somewhat spicy, and gave Woohyun this sense of warmness that filled him right up.

“Yah! Nam Woohyun!” And then Sungyeol’s voice chilled him right to the bone. Woohyun gulped and turned to look at the other. Sungyeol was beaming, proud of the spare he’d just picked up. “It’s your turn,” he announced.

And Woohyun was relieved that that was all it was.

* * *

It was hard for him to believe, but Woohyun actually didn’t end up losing after their rounds. Myungsoo did. And this whole ordeal seemed kind of silly because Myungsoo was willing to pay from the start. It was silly, but it was also immensely enjoyable.

“I told you that you’d have fun,” Sungyeol remarked as they left the bowling alley.

“Yep, you were,” and it wasn’t a lie. He truly did have fun. It was good to take his frustration out on the pins and to be comforted by his friends. It turns out, you can be cured by the thing that ails you. And Woohyun was starting to hope that he was gradually getting over this one-sided love one step at a time.

Bowling with the other two was fun. The conversation during their long walk home was enjoyable and full of laughs. They’d gotten ice cream too and that was sweet. Woohyun was in such a good mood that he’d paid for it.

But when he saw Sungyeol walk into Myungsoo’s apartment from his rooftop, everything was bitter once again and Woohyun felt his heart being eaten away once again.

He had to remind himself, you get over one-sided loves one step at a time. And today he took a giant leap forward.

* * *

 

**COMING UP NEXT!**

Kim Sunggyu will finally make his appearance! What difference will he make in the story? Will he help Woohyun mend his broken heart and find love? Or will he help Woohyun to get revenge? Will he go on a date with Myungyeol too? Will they double date???

Here's a sneak preview!

*Sunggyu Voice* “Have you ever thought of, I don't know, not liking him?”

...

*Woohyun Voice* “You wanna date or something? Do you wanna love me? Someone needs to. I'm adorable and loveable damn it.”

...

*Woohyun Voice* “Why do you sound so surprised?”

*Sunggyu's Really Loud Voice* “Because _you’re_ you!”

Stay tuned to see what happens!

 


	4. Episode IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fourth episode with the fourth character finally making his appearance.

The next day, however, Woohyun took a few steps backwards, back into the depths of unrequited love and pining. And his resolve to accept the circumstances crumbled along with it. All because he saw Myungsoo’s instagram post. He’d posted a photo from the night before of only two beer glasses with the caption “a night out.” There was no mention of who he was with, and it looked like it could have been just a regular date with no Woohyun as the third wheel. It was as if Woohyun wasn’t there at all.

Now, typically, this would probably help any reasonable person to fall _out_ of love and not back into it. However, reason, Woohyun didn’t have much of it these days. Instead, his pining increased manifold, and he wondered over and over again if that was his beer glass or Sungyeol’s. It could’ve been his. Or it could’ve been his _and_ Sungyeol’s glasses. Woohyun began racking his brain, trying to remember where he’d put his glass that evening. 

Before he could remember, he was interrupted by a phone call. When he answered it, he gruffly said, “Hold on, I’m in the middle of something.”

“What can be more important than me?” the person on the other side argued.

Woohyun sighed as he walked outside of his school gates while waving goodbye to some of his students. “A lot of things are more important than you, hyung,” he retorted, still smiling brightly at his students as he walked away.

The man on the line scoffed. “I _know_ you. You’re done for the day, and I know that you have nothing else better going on. So just talk with me until my bus comes. I’m bored,” he exposed the other. He had a point. No one knew Woohyun better than Kim Sunggyu. Although Sunggyu had started out as Boohyun’s (Woohyun’s brother) friend from middle school, when they attended the same college and were both a part of the music education department, Woohyun and Sunggyu became much closer than Sunggyu and Boohyun had been. Now Sunggyu was Woohyun’s oldest friend and, in some sense, a colleague too. He was the music teacher at the high school which Woohyun’s school fed into, so several of Woohyun’s former students then became Sunggyu’s. So Sunggyu really knew almost every facet of Woohyun’s life well.

And so when Kim Sunggyu said that Woohyun had nothing else going on, Woohyun really didn’t. But Woohyun wasn’t about to admit it. “I have more friends than just you, hyung,” he replied. “What if I had plans with them?”

“You don’t because you’re avoiding them,” Sunggyu pointed out. Woohyun whined at that. He really wished that the other didn’t know him _this_ well. “I’m right, aren’t I? I mean, what else can you do when you have a little crush on your friend who is dating your other _very_ good friend?”

“I’m not!” at least Woohyun could point out that Sunggyu was wrong on one account. “I went out with them last night.”

“Wait,” Sunggyu muttered and then dropped his voice as he whispered into the phone. “Did you really go on a date with them? Didn’t they _just_ start dating?”

“Eung,” Woohyun grunted. “And it was alright,” he ended with a heavy sigh, which told Sunggyu that it wasn’t “alright.”

“Woohyun,” Sunggyu started out in a soft voice. “Have you ever thought of, I don't know, not liking him?”

Woohyun scoffed. His heart wasn’t something he could turn on and off so easily. “I try! I really do!” he exclaimed. He’d been wanting to get over this crush ever since Sungyeol introduced him to Myungsoo. Even back then, he knew that his feelings were going to be in vain, that he’d only end up getting hurt. But here he was, still stuck in a one-sided love because... “I'm trying to be reasonable but then...his eyes sparkle like daisies and he smells like the moonlight and his voice...is so nice, like...like...like cotton candy! It melts. Wait no, it makes me melt. I'm the cotton candy. Hold on. How does this work?” Because Woohyun was already lost in love, and in his similes too. 

“Woohyun, are you high right now? Did you take some bad medicine?” Sunggyu was genuinely worried for his friend.

Woohyun heaved another great sigh. “Yes, love is my drug, and it's a bad and bitter pill,” he lamented.

Sunggyu snorted and replied, “You need help.”

“I know. I know. It's just…” Woohyun paused to gather himself. He was getting too worked up right now. He sat down at his own bus bench and waited for his bus to come. When he did, he felt a bit more composed and continued, with his head hanging down and in a low voice, “I'm miserable. I don't want to feel like this. I don't want to be in freakin’ one-sided…” He stopped to raise his head and his voice, “Hey!”

“What?”

“You wanna date or something?” Woohyun suggested. “Do _you_ wanna love me?” He then hung his head again and kicked his loafer against the pavement. “Someone needs to. I'm adorable and loveable, damn it,” he grumbled.

“Hell, no,” Woohyun had expected as much from Sunggyu. After all, he knew Woohyun well enough to know that Woohyun had asked in a fit of disappointment. But Sunggyu had a suggestion of his own, “But do you wanna get dinner with me tonight?”

“That's fine too,” Woohyun replied, perking up. “Pick me up at 7! It’s a date!”

“It’s not a date!” Sunggyu snapped.

“Just let me have this!” Woohyun barked back and then happily said, “Bye,” before hanging up the phone.

Woohyun still wasn’t perfectly happy, but he was a bit content. This was the first time in awhile when Sunggyu suggested that they have dinner first. He knew that Woohyun needed some quality time with his best friend.

And Woohyun knew exactly where they could go.

* * *

Woohyun was leaning against the side of the restaurant, waiting for his “date” to arrive. And when he caught sight of him, his eyebrows flew up. Sunggyu was dressed in tight, black jeans with rips at the knee and a large grey turtleneck sweater, the collar hitting hit under his chin. And to top it all of, Sunggyu actually brushed his hair and shaved. This wasn’t the typical disheveled, sweatsuit adorning, Sunggyu that Woohyun was used to catching up with after school hours. Something was up.

“You're rather dressed up for dinner at a mediocre place,” Woohyun pointed out, and he peeled himself away from the wall, walking up to the other. “Are you trying to impress me?” he teased the elder, nudging him in the shoulder.

Sunggyu scoffed, as if it were ridiculous, but there was an anxious look in his eyes. He was hiding something. “One of us needs to look decent,” he retorted nevertheless.

Woohyun looked down at his own outfit. He was wearing shorts that were a bit on the shorter side, in spite of the chiller weather, but he was wearing several warm layers on top: a hoodie with a long down coat. And Woohyun hadn’t even bother to restyle his hair after a long day of work. Why should he? He was only meeting with Sunggyu. “I am heartbroken. This is how heartbroken people look,” he defended himself and gestured to Sunggyu to follow him inside. “Come on, let’s eat. I’m starving.”

When they stepped inside, Sunggyu remarked, “This place looks familiar.” His voice sounded a bit happier than Woohyun expected it would be while saying something as mundane like that. He looked over and, indeed, Sunggyu was happy. He was grinning from ear to ear.

“Have you been here before?” Woohyun asked. 

“I hope so,” Sunggyu muttered lowly and then tried to bite back his smile. He knew that he was acting suspicious. So he hurried over to sit down at a table (the entire place was empty and the woman in the front told them to sit anywhere). When he sat down, Sunggyu had his usual frown on his face.

Woohyun walked over slowly and eyed the other curiously. “You’re acting weird,” he noted and then sat down.

“What of it? I am weird,” Sunggyu accepted all too quickly. He wanted to divert all focus off of him, as was evident by his next statement, “So let’s talk about your shitty love life. I know you want to.”

Woohyun’s eyes darted around him. “I don’t know if this is really the place to do it,” he mumbled lowly. They were at the Lees’ restaurant after all, but Woohyun knew that Sungyeol wasn’t working that night. He’d messaged Sungyeol earlier asking if he’d be there, and Sungyeol wasn’t. He was going on a date tonight and was quite excited about it and proceeded to tell Woohyun every detail about it. It was just dinner and a movie, but Sungyeol made it sound like the best thing ever (and to Woohyun, a simple date like that with Myungsoo did seem like the best thing ever). So after receiving that information, Woohyun decided that if he can’t have love because of Lee Sungyeol, then he’d exact his revenge by eating all of the chicken in this establishment on Sungyeol’s tab. And Sunggyu, the new chicken fiend, was going to help him.

The plan was perfect, until it took an unexpected turn.

“Oh, it's _him_ !” Sunggyu gasped, perking up and looking over Woohyun’s head.

But Woohyun kept his eyes on his friend. “Who?” he asked.

Sunggyu lowered his gaze back to his friend and leaned too far over the table. He was practically out of his chair. And he whispered excitedly to the other, “Remember that one time I got drunk at the chicken restaurant…”

“What time was that?” Woohyun interrupted with whispers of his own. “You drink a lot. A _whole_ lot.”

“Sh! Let me finish!” Sunggyu snapped in his usual tone and raised his hand, acting like he was going to hit Woohyun, who didn’t even flinch. He knew Sunggyu wasn’t going to. He never did. And sure enough, half a second later, Sunggyu lowered his hand back onto the table and continued whispering, “I was with Minseok and his tall girlfriend, who set me up with her weird classmate and Minseok and I turned him into a drinking game because he practically only spoke in movie quotes…”

Woohyun pulled away, nodding. “Oh yea. I remember now,” he muttered.

As he moved away, Sunggyu moved in closer because he wasn’t done yet, and he was practically laying across the table now. “We went for a second round at a chicken place, and _that_ guy is right behind you,” he hissed. Woohyun tried to turn around and look, but Sunggyu grabbed him by the cheeks and forced his head straight. “Don't look!” he begged. His eyes were big and grave.

“Why not?” Woohyun challenged as he peeled the hands away from his cheeks. “I don't remember you mentioning a _guy_ the first time you told the story.”

“I did!” Sunggyu was adamant, sitting back down in his chair and placing a hand over his heart. “He was the son of the owner. And his hair! I told you about his hair! I told you that I told him that his head was on fire.” He was now wagging his finger at Woohyun with every word he said.

“Oh right,” it was all starting to sound familiar to Woohyun. Sunggyu had just mentioned the thing about “fire” as if it was the most clever thing that he ever said, but Woohyun was starting to realize that there was more to it, much more. A smile was cracking on his face as he prodded the other to continue, “So…”

“He’s looking over here now. Don't look!” Sunggyu shouted again when Woohyun began turning his head. Woohyun cackled, seeing how flustered the other was. But then a great, big smile spread across Sunggyu face, although it trembled a little out of nervousness. “I think he remembers me,” he whispered. He then fixed his hair, brushing it out of his eyes, as he asked, “Should I go over and talk to him?”

“Hyung!” Woohyun exclaimed. It obviously wasn’t the reply Sunggyu was looking for, as was evident by his new pout, but Woohyun couldn’t help but to exclaim that. Things had fallen into place now. Woohyun now _knew_ what was going on. Ever since that night _months_ ago, Sunggyu had been hooked onto going to chicken restaurants. They never could order in. They always had to _go_ to the restaurant, and go to a different one every time. Sunggyu said that the chicken was fresher at the restaurant as opposed to ordering in. And that made sense, so Woohyun never really questioned it. And now that he _was_ questioning it, Woohyun found his answers. Sunggyu just wasn’t interested in chicken places; he was interested in _this_ place in particular, interested in the guy. He’d been looking for this place but was too drunk at the time to remember where it was. All Sunggyu could probably remember was this guy and the chicken. And even though Sunggyu hadn’t really spoken about the guy to Woohyun, that alone spoke volumes. When Sunggyu plays things really closely to the chest like this, it means he’s serious. He must’ve felt a connection with this guy. 

“You like this _guy_ ,” Woohyun said in a teasing voice. “I haven't see you like this for awhile.”

“Shut up!” Sunggyu snapped and his cheeks flushed with pink, unable to take this teasing. But then, just a second later, he asked very seriously, “So should I?”

At that moment, another piece fell into place. This establishment, son of the owner, with hair like fire, it had to be him, but at the same time, it couldn’t be. 

“I'm gonna look,” Woohyun announced and he turned around, ignoring the “no” slipping through Sunggyu’s mouth and the hands clawing at his shoulders. And when Woohyun saw who it was, his heart sank. Sungyeol wasn’t supposed to be there tonight, but there he was, getting them beer behind the bar. Sungyeol put down the glass he just filled and caught Woohyun’s eye. They waved to each other. And slowly, Woohyun turned back around with his gaze stuck on the table.

“You know him?” Sunggyu sounded surprised, and how could he not be.

“Hyung,” Woohyun called out to the other and bit by bit, raised his gaze up to the other. “Hyung, that's Sungyeol.”

Sunggyu furrowed his brows in confusion as he repeated. “Sungyeol?”

“Yep,” Woohyun replied and drug a hand down his face. Did he have to explain it? Explain what shitty situation that they were both in?

“Wait...your friend Lee Sungyeol?!” Nope, Sunggyu got there on his own. He had finally realized who _his_ guy really was.

“Yes,” Woohyun replied.

“Aish. Fucking shit. God damn it. Everything can just go to Hell and rot. I just want to fucking die. I hate everything. I hate my life,” a long string of curses poured from Sunggyu’s mouth, and Woohyun, truthfully, was kinda entertained by it. It was nice to not be the only one going crazy. Sunggyu began rubbing the sides of his head with the heels of his hands and lowered it more and more and more until it finally hit the table with a thud. “Man, I'm so embarrassed right now.”

“Wait...let me get this straight,” Woohyun said in a strained voice, trying to hold back his laughter. “All of this time when you've been obsessed with trying new chicken places, you were really looking for the owner’s son?”

“Shut it. I'm trying to die,” Sunggyu grumbled, his voice muffled by the table.

But Woohyun couldn’t. He had to say: “And you didn't think it would be my friend who you _know_ has parents that own a chicken place? Fuck, I’m pretty sure I told you that Sungyeol had red hair too.”

“Honestly,” Sunggyu began and raised his head. His hands traveled through his hair, down to his lips, and he kept them there. “I didn't think it would be the same person,” he admitted in a small voice.

“Why?”

Sunggyu let his hands fall to the table with a slam. “I didn't think _your_ friend would be that cool,” he hissed.

Woohyun frowned. “Why would you think that?”

“Because he's _your_ friend!” he yelled. But then he must’ve realized that he was shouting in a nearly empty restaurant and that Sungyeol could probably hear him because he moaned lowly, almost like he was in pain. “He's with your other friend, right? The one you like?” No, he’d realized something else.

“Yup,” Woohyun drawled that out. He thought Sunggyu already thought of that, but by the looks of his reaction, which was hitting his head against the table again, Sunggyu hadn’t. So Woohyun spelled it out for him: “Looks like we’re in the same boat now.”

Sunggyu raised his head again and pointed at Woohyun. “No,” he spoke like a reprimand. “Your boat is far ahead of mine. I haven't even set off yet. I'm still on shore. I was just intrigued by him. But you are way out in the open waters. With a sinking ship,” he corrected the other. He then folded his arms and sat back in his chair, shrugging his shoulders. “I'm fine. I'm not like you,” he spoke as if he didn’t just have a mental breakdown moments earlier.

That was enough to put Woohyun back into his sour mood. “Thanks for that,” he grumbled.

A few seconds later, Woohyun had something to be truly grateful for: Sungyeol came by to drop off their drinks. “I thought you said you wouldn’t be working tonight,” Woohyun reminded him.

“I did, but I had to switch” Sungyeol revealed as he placed a drink in front of Sunggyu, who practically had his back turned to him and was facing the window. Sungyeol turned to Woohyun. “Daeyeol has a date night and asked to switch.”

“Aw little Baby Yeol is growing up,” Woohyun cooed.

Sungyeol clicked his tongue and shook his head. “Not fast enough. He’s in his freaking twenties now and still trying to do aegyo,” he exposed his little brother. “I caught him practicing it in the bathroom for tonight.”

Woohyun winced at that. “Daeyeol is weird,” he commented.

“Tell me about it,” Sungyeol agreed. He then shrugged. “But he’s family, I guess.” Woohyun snorted and took a sip from his beer. Sungyeol might be acting all nonchalant about his baby brother, but he did end up sacrificing his own date night for Daeyeol. He _loved_ his family.

But he didn’t love being behind the counter of an empty restaurant, waiting for customers that might not come. “Hey, this might be awkward, but do you mind if I join you?” Sungyeol asked. “This place is empty and I’m _seriously_ bored right now.”

“Sit down. It's fine,” Woohyun offered, scooting down to allow Sungyeol to sit next to him in the booth. And as he slid, he smirked at Sunggyu. He gestured at him too as he said, “I know _he_ won't mind.” At that, he felt a sharp pain in his shin. “Ow!” he yelped. Sunggyu had kicked him and now he was glaring at Woohyun, which looked scarier now since Sunggyu had pulled up his turtleneck to cover all of his face except the eyes. Woohyun gulped.

“Are you sure?” Sungyeol asked as he sat down. “I don't want to interrupt anything?”

“You're interrupting nothing. Promise me,” Woohyun assured him. “This…” he paused as he pulled down Sunggyu’s turtleneck back underneath his chin. “...is Kim Sunggyu.” 

“Ah.” Sungyeol sounded surprised, and when Woohyun looked over at him, Sungyeol appeared to be too. After a few moments of sitting there with his mouth agape, his lips quirked up into a smile. He was laughing as he said, “Then I’m not interrupting anything at all.”

“Hm?” Sunggyu hummed as he hastily folded his turtleneck like it should be. He gave the other a small smile. “You know me?”

“Eung,” Sungyeol grunted. Woohyun kept his eyes on Sungyeol, watching his every move. Did Sunggyu leave as much of an impression on Sungyeol as he did on Sunggyu? “Woohyun’s mentioned you before.” Nope, it didn’t seem to be the case.

Sunggyu looked disappointed by that response, so Woohyun tried to cheer him up, “I only said _good_ things about you, hyung.” Sungyeol snorted at that.

Sunggyu glared once more at Woohyun. “What have you been saying about me?” he growled.

“I honestly...can’t remember,” Woohyun confessed with a cheeky smile. He had said so much, and maybe not all of it was entirely good.

But before Sunggyu could press him even more, Sungyeol cut him off, “Oh, we should get Myungsoo in here. Myungsoo has been dying to see the legendary Kim Sunggyu.” And before anyone could object, Sungyeol had already pulled out his phone and started texting his boyfriend.

“Why?” Woohyun asked with a slight whine.

Sungyeol didn’t even look up from his screen as he replied, “He’s curious like that. He wants to know everyone important to his friends, especially Woohyun.” He ended by gesturing over to Woohyun with his phone, who was blushing a bit, from the alcohol to be sure, not because of anything else.

“Yah,” Sunggyu called out to his friend. “Am I _important_ to you?” he asked with a cocky grin.

“Eung,” Woohyun answered. He then smiled with a cocky grin of his own. “You pay for my meals.” 

Sunggyu frowned and grumbled, “So I’m just a wallet.”

“Wallets are important too,” Woohyun joked.

A cackle came from his side. Sungyeol finally put down and phone. Still laughing, he told Sunggyu, “Yup, this is exactly as I imagined you would be.” Woohyun whipped his head over to study the accountant. He was confused. Sungyeol had always said this, that, and the other about Sunggyu, and most of it was conflicting. But if you guessed everything about a person, then you’d probably end up guessing correctly at one point. 

Sungyeol’s phone then dinged. He read the message. “Myungsoo said that he’d be here in a bit,” he announced to the other two.

The other two who only had this to say (dimly) in response, “Great.”

* * *

Sungyeol left after a few more moments and comments to put in their order. While he was in the kitchen, Myungsoo came bursting through the door. After he did, he looked around the room, and when he saw Woohyun, they waved to each other. “Hello, Myungsoo,” Woohyun greeted the other, not smiling.

“Hello!” he said back and waved more. When he stopped, he scurried off into the kitchen because Sungyeol had called out to his boyfriend to join him back there for who knows what. To talk about their day? To hug? Kiss? Woohyun didn’t want to think about it, and honestly, he couldn’t over Sunggyu’s cursing.

“Mother fucking flying fuck duck,” Sunggyu tore into it when Myungsoo ducked into the kitchen. He leaned over the table and hissed to his friend, “You didn’t tell me that he looked like that. Please tell me he’s an asshole or something.”

Woohyun rolled his eyes, “Right, like _I’d_ be in love like this with an asshole,” he whispered back.

“Damn it, you’re right,” Sunggyu mumbled as he pulled back into his sit. “He’s probably some nice, sweet…”

“Woohyun!” The two men followed the call and saw Myungsoo sticking his head out of the kitchen. “Do you want fries too?”

“Uh, sure,” Woohyun responded.

“Okay, we’ll be done soon,” Myungsoo promised and flashed them a smile before ducking back into the kitchen. 

After he did, Sunggyu kept looking back and forth between Woohyun and the kitchen doorway until he finally burst, “His eyes _actually_ sparkled! Did you see that?” Sunggyu groaned and threw back his head, asking the ceiling, “This is real life?” He pulled his turtleneck back up over his face and closed his eyes. “I wanna die. I’m so embarrassed.” 

Yep, Sunggyu was wading in waters as deep as Woohyun was. 

“Hyung...what exactly happened between you and Sungyeol that night?”

Sunggyu brought down his head and pulled down the neck of his sweater again. “It doesn’t matter,” he muttered. “ _He’s_ forgotten about it.” He then guzzled down most of his drink. Woohyun sighed as he watched him. He hated when Sunggyu got like this. After he got his fill, Sunggyu slammed the glass back down on the table. “Yah!”

“What?” Woohyun barked back, not even flinching.

“Why are _all_ of your friends handsome?”

Woohyun scoffed, “Why do you sound so surprised?”

“Because you’re _you_ !” Sunggyu shot back. “It’s unexpected that you have such handsome and cool friends. You’re kinda lame,” he ended with a diss.

Woohyun leaned closer to the other. “You know, some people would say that I’m handsome too,” he retorted.

“Who are those people?” Sunggyu challenged him. “Show them to me.”

Woohyun’s gaze drifted over to the kitchen. He was almost, sort of, positive that someone in there would think he’s handsome. But instead of calling them out, Woohyun face Sunggyu again. “You know, you’re my friend too,” he pointed out. “If you think all of my friends should be lame like me, what does that make you?”

“Your _one_ cool and very handsome friend!” Sunggyu responded, while holding up one finger.

“Then I got Myungsoo now. I don’t need you,” Woohyun retorted.

“Oh, you need me, believe me,” Sunggyu insisted and then gestured with his head at Woohyun to look behind him. Woohyun did turn around and saw Sungyeol and Myungsoo walking out, carrying plates full of food, while whispering and nudging each other. “Look at those two,” Sunggyu spoke lowly. He then clicked his tongue. “I can’t believe you went on a date with the both of them.”

“They invited me,” Woohyun grumbled as he turned back around. 

“Are you that desperate to be with Myungsoo?”

Woohyun looked up at Sunggyu and jutted out his chin. “If you were in my shoes, what would you do?” he turned the situation around. “They don’t know how I feel. They don’t know what they do to me. And it’s better that they don’t.”

Sunggyu nodded in understanding. “So you act like you’re cool with everything and support them. Like a good friend,” he added in a soft voice. 

“Like a good friend,” Woohyun repeated he sighed and glanced behind him again, at the couple. Sungyeol had forgotten to add something to his dish and rushed back into the kitchen, and Myungsoo, his eyes followed Sungyeol, closely. Myungsoo always stared at Sungyeol like that, and lately it felt like Myungsoo avoided even looking at Woohyun when they were alone together. He’d just zone out. That was because Sungyeol was Sungyeol, and Woohyun was only a friend. That was all. 

Woohyun lowered his gaze and sat back straight in his seat, not looking at anything himself. “And that’s why I need you,” he muttered, with eyes still downcast. “Someone needs to know that I’m not okay, and someone needs to tell me that I’m not a bad person even though I want their relationship to burst into flames, crumble into dust, and die.”

“You’re a bad person,” Sunggyu said instead. Woohyun looked up at him and pouted. However, Sunggyu’s gaze wasn’t on him either. It was behind him, and Woohyun could guess what he was looking at. “But I want that too...I mean, I would want that, if I were in your position,” he quickly amended. He sighed and lowered his head. “I’m a bad person too,” he mumbled before grabbing his drink and finishing it. And Woohyun was going to try to do the same. It was the only way that they both could get through the night.

* * *

The alcohol helped to improve the night, as did the food and conversation. Woohyun started to feel bad for dreading to hang out with the new couple when he always ended up having a decent time. And with Sunggyu there, whenever the couple got too couple-y for comfort, Woohyun would just look at his old friend. At least he had someone now who understood him.

And luckily, it seemed like Sungyeol and Myungsoo got along with and liked Sunggyu (just like how Woohyun expected that it would turn out). Sunggyu would probably be invited to more of their outings, as the fourth person to their party. Woohyun much preferred that to being the third wheel, especially when the couple’s focus was on Sunggyu, quizzing him about himself, about Woohyun, and about their relationship. It allowed Woohyun to mentally take a break and try to think of nothing as he ate and drank.

When he was zoning out himself, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Woohyun looked over. When did Myungsoo end up sitting next to him? Myungsoo gave the other a grin as he dropped his hand from the shoulder and propped his head up with his hand. “What’s on your mind?” he asked. “It seems like something is troubling you.”

Woohyun eyed him up and down before answering truthfully, “Something is...your Instagram post.”

“What?” Myungsoo was surprised, maybe even a little flustered. “What about it?”

“I wasn’t in it,” Woohyun mumbled, eyes downcast and barely moving his lips. “It was of just two glasses. Like I wasn’t there at all.”  
“Aigoo,” Myungsoo cooed. Woohyun raised his eyes to see Myungsoo pulling out his phone. “Was that all it is?” he chided the other as he pulled up something on his phone. Once he found what he was looking for, Myungsoo slid the phone over to Woohyun. It was opened to that dreadful, hurtful (to Woohyun) Instagram post. Woohyun frowned until Myungsoo told him, “Swipe.”

“Huh?”

“Swipe the screen,” Myungsoo repeated and mimicked the movement to show Woohyun what to do.

And when Woohyun looked down at the phone and gave the post a _good_ look, he finally realized that it was one of those posts with multiple pictures. Woohyun groaned and moved his head to the side, hearing Myungsoo chuckle at him. But he did what he told and swiped the screen. After the beer glasses was a photo of Woohyun’s watch, resting on his chair. The third photo was of his and Sungyeol’s  backside. At that time, Sungyeol had his arm around Woohyun’s shoulders and was instructing him how to get a strike. Then the end of the post wasn’t a photo but a video. A bowling ball was rolling down the lane, straight as an arrow, and knocking all the pins down in one shot. It was a strike! And Woohyun could hear all three of them cheering in the background. Woohyun smiled as he watched the video replay.  

“You were there. Why would I pretend like you weren’t?” Myungsoo asked him.

Woohyun locked the screen and slid the phone back over to the other. “Because it was you first date with Sungyeol,” he explained.

Myungsoo shrugged. “We’ll have others,” he sounded a little too casual about this.

“Really?” Woohyun challenged with a snort. “Because you’re spending your second date with us.”

“What’s wrong with this?” Myungsoo asked, straightening up in his seat. “I’m having fun. Aren’t you?”

“Oh,” Woohyun muttered, not knowing what else to say.

Myungsoo chuckled and mimicked him, “Oh.” And doing that made him laugh some more. When he calmed down, Myungsoo added, “And it’s interesting.” Woohyun shot a puzzled look at him, so Myungsoo clarified, “I finally met the Kim Sunggyu.”

Woohyun snorted and leaned in while lowering his voice so the man across the table couldn’t hear, “And what did you think?”

Myungsoo leaned in and replied seriously, “I thought he’d be taller”

“Right?” Woohyun exclaimed with a laugh. He pulled away a lightly hit the other. “With the size of his ego, he should be as tall as Mount Fuji.” Myungsoo laughed again, more loudly, drawing glances from the other two across the table, but Woohyun didn’t care. He just laughed at Myungsoo laughing. 

Woohyun had take a giant leap yesterday, but he fell back to the start today. He loved Myungsoo, probably more deeply than ever now. And he wasn’t going to get over it any time soon.

But at least he had Sunggyu now. Woohyun looked up and saw his old friend and Sungyeol talking to each other, about aliens or whatever else those two crazy kids were into. And Sunggyu was laughing like Yeol was the funniest person alive. Woohyun could see the tears seeping out of his eyes. But Sunggyu furtively wiped them and fixed his hair again. He wasn’t laughing anymore but nodding “coolly” to whatever Sungyeol was saying now. Woohyun snorted at his fellow teacher. Sunggyu was trying to show his “charisma,” as if it made any difference. Woohyun glanced over at the man sitting next to him, who was watching the two men across from them with a smile on his face. Woohyun tucked in his lips and returned his gaze back to Sunggyu. He snorted. He just caught Sunggyu glaring at Myungsoo. Sunggyu must’ve heard Woohyun because soon their gazes met. Knowing that he got caught, Sunggyu flushed and lowered his head.

Oh yeah, Kim Sunggyu was definitely in the same boat as Woohyun, and the both of them were sinking fast, drowning in the seas of jealousy.

* * *

**COMING UP NEXT!**

Love lines are crossing all over the place! So far, only one lines up perfectly: the happy Myungyeol couple. But at least Woohyun isn't going crazy on his own! Like a good friend, Kim Sunggyu is going crazy with jealousy along with him. Will it land them into trouble? Most likely.

*Myungsoo voice* Wait. Where's Woohyun? I haven't heard from him in days. Where did he go? 


	5. Episode V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The episode with inedible mandu.

Myungsoo sat at his desk, tapping his pen against the side of it as he waited. It should be anytime now. The door to his floor should swing wide open soon. Myungsoo looked down at clock on his computer. In 30 seconds to be exact, those doors should open. Now 20, 10, and just like clockwork, the doors opened and Lee Sungyeol came onto his floor for his late morning coffee break. Myungsoo smirked to himself. Sungyeol liked to think that he was very spontaneous, but he also could be very much a creature of habit, like right now. After so many years together, Myungsoo could predict his boyfriend well.

But what he couldn’t predict was how Sungyeol would act towards Myungsoo when they were at the office like this. Technically, Sungyeol was his senior here. He’d joined the company a year before Myungsoo did and later introduced Myungsoo to the company after he was discharged. Some of their coworkers still didn’t even know that they were very good friends.

That’s because they did a good job of hiding it. They both knew that when they were together, acting as they usually did, things could get rather weird, for others not for them. Being strange and loud was fun for them, but it wasn’t appropriate at the office.

Usually.

Today was going to be different for them. Sungyeol brushed by his desk, and when their gazes met, a wink, Sungyeol actually winked at him. “What is this?” Myungsoo sputtered below his breath. It was an opening. So Myungsoo got up and followed the man into the break room a few moments after Sungyeol walked in. He didn’t want to seem too eager.

Today was indeed very different. Sungyeol wasn’t even making is usual cup of coffee but was shredding a large stack of papers that Myungsoo didn’t even notice that he had been carrying Myungsoo had been a bit distracted by other things, like the wink for one, and his gummy smile for two, and for three...just everything.

Now Myungsoo was leaning against the wall, directly behind Sungyeol, who was slowly shredding the papers one by one. His pose was relaxed, hip cocked to the side, just standing there on his long legs in those slim black pants. And Myungsoo just stared, mind wandering off further and further with every whir of the shredder.

“Are you just going to watch?”

That brought Myungsoo’s mind back. He shook his head, snapping out of it, and snorted. “What else can I do?” he retorted.

“Coffee!” Sungyeol exclaimed with his back still turned to the younger. He then craned back to look at him, smiling broadly. “Make me a cup please,” he begged more politely.

Cutely too, so Myungsoo had to give in. “Of course,” he chirped back and then went over to the counter where the instant coffee was. Neither of them really liked this stuff, but it was quick and did the job in a pinch. And Sungyeol always seemed to be in a pinch around this time of day (and maybe deserved a pinch for acting so cute).

“You know how I like it, right?” Sungyeol asked with a cheeky lilt.

“Eung,” Myungsoo hummed as he filled the cup with hot water and placed it on the counter. He then took a coffee packet and shook it while glancing over at his boyfriend, who was staring right back. “Hot, strong, bitter…”

“Like me!” Sungyeol finished for him and emphasized his point by stuffing another piece of paper through the shredder.

“Just like you,” Myungsoo repeated with a slight chuckle. He tore open the packet, poured it into the cup, and began stirring it. When he looked back over to Sungyeol, the older was concentrating on his shredding again. But Myungsoo knew how to arrest his attention again. “But this cup has something else,” he remarked as he picked up the cup and strode over to the other.

“What?” Sungyeol murmured and shredded yet another paper.

“It was made with love.”

“What?” Sungyeol asked again and looked over at Myungsoo, right as the younger went to peck his cheek. The kiss landed on the corner of his mouth instead. “Aish,” Sungyeol swore lowly as he pulled away. His head quickly swung over to the doorway. “What if someone saw that?”

Myungsoo sighed and hung his head. “I don't care,” he grumbled.

He then felt the coffee cup being taken out of his hand. Sungyeol was facing him again, with a warm smile. “You wouldn't be saying that if someone caught us,” he commented.

Myungsoo tilted up his chin. Sure, Sungyeol was taller, but Myungsoo was still going to try to look down at him, defiantly. “I don't care,” he fought back. He liked Sungyeol, a lot, so much that it was getting increasingly hard to hide. Like right now, if Myungsoo had the sense of mind to remember that he was at the workplace, he might’ve not kissed Sungyeol just then. So right now, he was embarrassed, but was acting like he wasn’t.

And Sungyeol saw right through him. “Okay, you don't,” but he played along with Myungsoo anyway. He then took a sip of the coffee, grimacing slightly at the taste, and put the last piece of paper through the shredder. After he had, with his now free hand, he took the younger’s hand in his. “How’s your day?” he asked.

Myungsoo smiled and intertwined their fingers. “Okay,” he answered. But the smiled quickly fell. His mind was wandering off again.

Sungyeol snorted. “Just okay?” he challenged. He then cocked his head to get a better look at the younger. “It doesn’t look like it. What's eating at you?”

Myungsoo chewed his lower lip for a few moments, debating if he should really bring it up, or was he just being a worry wort (which he had a tendency of being). But because Sungyeol wouldn’t stop nudging him with their conjoined hands, Myungsoo finally let his lip free and asked, “Have you heard from Woohyun recently?”

“Not since Monday, no,” Sungyeol replied with a shake of his head.

“Same,” Myungsoo added and sighed heavily, tilting his head to the side as he let out the breath. His eyes went up to the others. “He also hasn't been updating any of his accounts lately either.”

“Good. SNS is an addiction,” Sungyeol joked, trying to bring a smile to the other’s face. “He was also posting too many depressing quotes from those poetry books he reads. It's good that he stopped.”

But it wasn’t really time to be joking, not to Myungsoo. He was seriously worried. “Sungyeol, I think something is up,” Myungsoo responded and brought the mood and Sungyeol’s smile down with that. “I've also sent him some texts and he never responded. It isn’t like him.” He then let go of Sungyeol’s hand to reach into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He showed the other his message history with their mutual friend. There was nothing on the screen except messages sent from Myungsoo’s phone with a little 1 next to all of them. Woohyun hadn’t even read the messages.

Sungyeol groaned as he read the screen. “Same here,” he admitted. He glanced up to Myungsoo, looking hopeful. “He could be just being sulky. He's been like that lately.” Myungsoo must’ve not look convinced by that because Sungyeol quickly added in an unsure voice. “Or he’s busy?”

“I don't know,” Myungsoo mumbled as he pocketed the phone. “It just doesn't seem like him.”

“Yeah,” Sungyeol finally dropped his front. In all honesty, he was just as worried as Myungsoo, but he’d been making excuses in Woohyun’s stead. “This all doesn't add up,” he mumbled and turned to lean on the counter. Myungsoo joined him. The both of them were now just standing there. Sungyeol stretching out his long legs, and Myungsoo threw his head back, eyes closed, as both of their minds wandered further and further. All that could be heard was Sungyeol sipping on his coffee.

“Do you want to try and go find him?”

Myungsoo snapped his eyes open and his gaze flitted over to the other. “Can we?” he asked.

Sungyeol shrugged. “Yeah, it be like a scavenger hunt. We go out, gather clues, and whoever finds this kid first wins,” he proposed.

Myungsoo smirked “What’s the prize?” he challenged.

Sungyeol lifted himself off from the counter and stood in front of the other, flashing him that cheeky smile. “I bet we can think of something,” he remarked. And that was true. The two of them have always been creative. Sungyeol offered his hand to the other. “Winner’s choice?”

At this point, finding Woohyun would be enough of a prize in itself for Myungsoo. He was wearing himself down with worry. So Myungsoo took the other’s hand and the challenge. He pulled himself off from the counter and the both of them headed out of the break room, breaking their handhold as they returned back to their mundane office life. But they still weren’t finished yet. Myungsoo whispered to his boyfriend, “I’ll go check out his school during lunch.”

“Good idea,” Sungyeol whispered back. “I’ll ask that friend of his. Sunggyu. He should know something.” He nudged the younger. “Do you have his number?”

Myungsoo screwed his face and glanced up at the other. “Why would I have his number?” he retorted with another question and a laugh. He then began to make his way back to his desk.

“Then how can I ask him?” Sungyeol raised his voice in the quiet voice.

Myungsoo spun back around but kept walking backwards towards his desk. He shrugged and raised his voice too “Find a clue?”

Well, that drew curious looks from their coworkers. It was safe to say that their friendship was out in the open now. In probably a few more months (or weeks with how Myungsoo was acting), the true nature of their relationship would be revealed.

But Myungsoo couldn’t be concerned with that just yet. He went back to his desk only to grab his coat. He was going to go out for lunch today.

* * *

“Find a...clue” Sungyeol muttered to himself as he slunk back to his desk. At the last word, he plopped his butt down into his seat. “Where the Hell am I gonna find one?”

But he did. Soon after he said that and he looked up to see a photo pinned to the wall of his cubicle. It was a picture of Sungyeol with Woohyun, but his friend was dressed in a bear mascot costume for the recital his students had put on for their parents, because Woohyun was a teacher, because Woohyun was a music teacher, because Woohyun was a music teacher at an all boys’ school nearby. And so was Kim Sunggyu.

“Ah! I got it!” Sungyeol got his clue, and he had a feeling that the prize would be his as well.

* * *

On his way out, Myungsoo called Woohyun’s school first and asked for him. Instead of getting Woohyun on the other line, he got a clue instead.

“He called in sick. He’s been out all week,” the secretary told him.

“What?” Myungsoo stopped in his tracks out of disbelief. This wasn’t good. Myungsoo rubbed the space between his eyes. What was going on? Where was Woohyun? Myungsoo started walking again.

“Nam seonsaeng-nim has been sick all week,” the secretary repeated, thinking that Myungsoo had not heard her the first time. “Is there a reason for this call? Do you want to leave him a message?”

“No,” Myungsoo quickly replied. “I was just...checking. Thank you for you help.”

“No problem. Have a good day,” she spoke with all of the cheeriness that you’d expect from a worker in an elementary school. But not even her voice could chase away the dread welling up in Myungsoo. A good day? It wasn’t shaping up to be one.

“You have a nice day too,” Myungsoo wished her anyways and hung up the phone, but he didn’t put it away. He texted Sungyeol what he’d just learned. Myungsoo knew that they were competing with each other, but he didn’t want either of them to waste time, any clue they gathered should be shared. The sooner they find Woohyun, the sooner he’d stop worrying, and the sooner that they both would enjoy the prize.

But Myungsoo couldn’t continue this search on an empty stomach. It was time to eat.

* * *

It was an emergency. That’s what Sunggyu was told. And that was why he was racing down the hall into the main office, running so fast that he slid across the slick tile and into the wall when he turned a corner. He hit his shoulder, pretty badly. He couldn’t do more than just wince at the pain and keep going. He didn’t have time! It was an emergency!

Then Sunggyu was finally at the main office. He slammed his hands down on the desk, frightening the secretary. Between heavy pants he asked, “What’s the emergency? Is it a call?” The secretary didn’t answer. She was still trying to recover from the shock, but Sunggyu kept shooting questions at her. “Is it my mom? My sister? The...police?” She shook her head at every one of his questions. “Who is it?” Sunggyu bellowed and hit the desk again, losing his patience.

The secretary slowly lifted her hand and pointed behind the teacher. “It’s him,” she squeaked out.

Sunggyu followed her finger and saw a man sitting at one of the chairs along the wall, grinning at him with that gummy smile. The teacher didn’t even acknowledge the man and just whipped his head back to the woman. “No, it’s not,” he argued in a low whisper, not wanting the man to hear.

“Yes, it is!” she hissed back. The secretary sat up from her chair and looked around Sunggyu at the man behind him. “He said that he had something of vital importance to ask you,” she revealed and gave the other man a smile, which fell when she turned back to Sunggyu. “Go,” she urged him and shooed him away from her desk. “He’s been kept waiting long enough. GO!”

“Fine,” Sunggyu spat back at the secretary. He then spun around, head hanging. Slowly he raised it back up again, mostly because he couldn’t trust his eyes. There was no way he was here right now. Why the Hell would Lee Sungyeol be here and be here looking for him? How did he even know that Sunggyu worked here in the first place?

But from the tips of his black shoes to the top of his red hair, it was all Lee Sungyeol.

“What are you doing here, Sungyeol-ssi?” Sunggyu grumbled, not really meeting the other in the eye.

“Woohyun.”

“Huh?” Sunggyu gasped as he looked into the other’s eyes.

“Nam Woohyun,” Sungyeol said and got up from his seat. “Have you heard from him lately?”

“No,” Sunggyu answered with a shake of his head. “Not since Monday.”

Sungyeol sighed. “Same here.”

“Huh, that’s strange,” Sunggyu remarked, placing his hands on his hips. His gaze drifted down again. “Really strange.” He glanced up at the other, arching an eyebrow. “He hasn’t contacted Myungsoo either?”

“No,” Sungyeol responded. He then snorted and raised an eyebrow himself. “If he hadn’t contacted his best friend, why would he contact Myungsoo?” he challenged.

“Uh,” came out of Sunggyu’s now wide-open mouth. Did he just give Sungyeol reason to suspect Woohyun? No, this wasn’t good. Sunggyu needed to be more careful lest he expose Woohyun’s secret.  “I don’t know. Woohyun is weird,” Sunggyu reasoned. And he should’ve just left it at that, but because he was getting nervous, Sunggyu’s mouth kept running:  “It’s not like there’d be any secret, hidden meaning behind it if he did. Seriously” Now he truly gave Sungyeol reason to suspect their friend.

Fortunately, Sungyeol was distracted. A message had just come in on his phone. He snorted as he read it. “Woohyun is weird and sick apparently,” Sungyeol revealed. “Myungsoo called the school, and Woohyun’s been out for a week.”

“What?” Sunggyu exclaimed out of shock, which didn’t last for too long. He was sadly used to this. After letting out a heavy sigh, he settled his hands on his hips, shaking his head, and asked the other with a slight smile, “You know what this means, right?”

Sungyeol nodded his head and responded: “The miserable wretch probably landed himself in the hospital again.”

* * *

And, indeed, the miserable wretch was in the hospital at that exact moment, watching a daily drama but not really following along, which could tell you what kind of state he was in. Woohyun’s head was hazy, and for this entire week, he hadn’t been doing much more than drifting in and out of sleep. It was incredibly boring, even more so when he couldn’t sustain the concentration for the simplest of plotlines.

He didn’t tell anyone that he was here, not a soul, not even his parents. He didn’t want anyone to worry about him, and he couldn’t bear with all of the nagging again. No, it’d be better to wait this one out. But he didn’t expect to be here this long. However, he couldn’t eat without his enzymes skyrocketing and throwing up, and the best cure for pancreatitis (what he had this time) was starvation. So he really wasn’t doing anything more than sleeping because he even couldn’t eat.

Which also meant that he hadn’t been thinking of Myungsoo...much.

But Woohyun couldn’t deny that it would’ve been nice to have someone take care of him right now, other than the doctors and nurses, who knew him by name even before this stay. Woohyun had landed himself in the hospital five too many times.

Woohyun turned off the television. He finally got what was going on, and it was hitting too close to home. The second male lead was in love with his friend’s girl and now was in the hospital just like Woohyun was. The second male lead never had a happy ending. He never got the girl. He only got pity.

And that’s also why Woohyun didn’t tell anyone. He didn’t want pity. Woohyun already knew that he was a miserable wretch with a body constantly attacking itself. He didn’t need to be told that by several different people. He didn’t want to be the second male lead in his own life. All he wanted was...

“I found you.”

“Hm?” Woohyun hummed with half-lidded eyes which slowly drifted over towards the doorway. “Holy shit!” he then exclaimed, eyes wide open now, blinking. He was more awake now than he’d been this whole time, but Woohyun still thought he was dreaming. There was no was that he was really standing in the doorway. “Myungsoo, what are you doing here?”

“Because of you,” Myungsoo answered as walked up to the other’s bedside, and his hand fell on Woohyun’s shoulder. Well, that kind of proved that Myungsoo was actually there.

Woohyun’s gaze dropped down to that hand because he was still in disbelief. “But...how did you know I was here?” he asked.

Myungsoo removed his hand and put it in his pocket. His shoulders were hunched as he answered. “Well, after I went to your parents’ place and talked to your mom…”

“Wait?” Woohyun interrupted. “You went to their restaurant?”

Myungsoo nodded, smiling broadly which deepened his dimples. “Yup, I did,” he replied proudly.

Often times, nothing came before food for Myungsoo, and that included finding Woohyun. Myungsoo finished his meal at Woohyun’s parent’s place before asking Woohyun’s mother if she had heard from her son. She had. When he talked to her, Woohyun made it sound like he was still at work. She even revealed that Myungsoo and Sungyeol supposedly had met up with Woohyun just the day before, according to what her son had told her. “Didn’t you?” she asked. Myungsoo played along and answered that he did, but in the back of his mind, he was trying to figure out what was really going on. And by the time that he paid, he realized where Woohyun was and headed straight towards the hospital.

And now here they were.

“Well, I’m fine. I’ll get discharged soon,” Woohyun told him, and it was the truth. He’d managed to eat something and hadn’t yet thrown it up. It was a great triumph for him at this point. Even the nurses anticipated that he’d go home today. So there was no reason for Myungsoo to stay. Woohyun didn’t need to be cared for anymore. He tried to shoo the younger away. “You can leave.”

Myungsoo turned around and began to walk away. Woohyun fell back onto his pillows as he watched the other go. He frowned. He really didn’t think it would be that easy to get Myungsoo to leave. Woohyun was relieved, but disappointed at the same time. How little did Myungsoo think of him?

The real question ended up being “how little did Woohyun think of Myungsoo?” because the younger had walked away only to grab a chair from the other side of the room and pull it up next to Woohyun’s bedside. “I’ll stay here with you,” Myungsoo said as he sat down in the chair. He then patted the bed near Woohyun’s hand. “Let’s leave together.”

“Don’t you have work?” Woohyun argued, picking at his sheets.

Myungsoo shook his head and placed his hands on the seat, in between his legs, rocking back and forth. “I told them I had to go to the hospital,” he admitted and bit his lip after he did so. It seemed like he had some qualms about telling his work that.

“Don’t lie,” Woohyun told him. “Go back to work.”

“I’m not lying! I’m at the hospital!” Myungsoo fought back, his voice raised in excitement. He lifted his hands, and this time he slapped the bed. “You should tell someone when you’re sick, besides the school of course. Don’t hide it. Don’t be sick alone,” he reprimanded the other. And while he was talking, he rest his arms on the bed and was leaning further and closer to Woohyun. Myungsoo might’ve seemed more relaxed now, but Woohyun grew stiffer. His heart was racing as well as the thoughts in his head, but he had to calm down. Closing his eyes helped; not seeing Myungsoo so close helped. He then took in a deep breath and let it out.

“Why are you here?” after he asked that he opened up his eyes again and saw Myungsoo with a confused expression.

“Because you’re sick?” he didn’t sound too sure about that and he looked even less sure of himself. His brows furrowed deeply, but they relaxed when he glanced over at Woohyun, sort of. They bowed. He was concerned. Oh no, this was exactly what Woohyun didn’t want. “All on your own too. I feel sorry for you. I feel bad for you,” Myungsoo made it clear. He pitied Woohyun.

“You feel sorry for me?” Woohyun still asked, just to make sure.

Myungsoo gave a short nod. “There’s nothing sadder than being sick and alone,” he answered with a half-smile.

“You feel sorry for me,” Woohyun repeated. His voice dropped along with his heart. He gathered the sheets into his fists. He closed his eyes again, head falling back on the pillows.

“Yes,” and it really didn’t help that Myungsoo replied so chipperly (or at least he sputtered into a chuckle as he said that).

“It’s because you feel sorry for me. That’s why you’re here,” Woohyun muttered out loud unintentionally. He winced and turned his head away, looking at the other side of the room. “I get it.”

“Of course I feel sorry for you,” Myungsoo spoke up. Woohyun heard the chair being pulled more closely to the bed. He shut his eyes even more tightly as the other continued, “Woohyun, since I’ve known you, you’ve been stuck in the hospital twice like this. I haven’t known you all that long.” He sputtered into another chuckle at that. Was Myungsoo seriously now laughing at Woohyun’s unfortunate life? Woohyun opened his eyes and turned back towards the other just to glare at him. But he couldn’t. Myungsoo wasn’t seriously making fun of him; he was seriously worried. “Are you okay? Is there something serious causing all of this?” Myungsoo asked in a low whisper.

“No,” Woohyun answered, nice and loud.

But Myungsoo easily saw through that bravado. “Woohyun,” he called to his friend, cocking his head. “You can tell me. You don’t have to deal with it on your own.”

Woohyun bowed his head and answered, “Other than the pancreatitis, I’m fine.” Which was a slight lie. The pancreatitis might’ve been the worst of it, but the doctors still weren’t too sure what caused it.

Myungsoo scoffed. “So casual,” he teased the other and gave him a slight shove. “How many times have you been here? The nurses all know your name.”

Now Woohyun could glare at him. “Well, they probably feel sorry for me too,” he probably sneered much more than he meant to. But for some reason, it made Myungsoo smile.

“Probably,” Myungsoo readily agreed. He gestured up and down at the other. “Look at you.”

Woohyun followed his hands, looking at himself and then back up at Myungsoo. “Am I that pitiful?” he asked with a raised brow.

“Eung,” Myungsoo answered, not taking anytime to think. He was laughing again. Woohyun couldn’t and just watched the other laugh with that derpy look Myungsoo occasionally got whenever he got carried away with the mood. Fuck, Woohyun really was the second male lead in his own life. All he could get from Myungsoo was pity, and yet Woohyun couldn’t help but to fall deeper and deeper into this damn one-sided love.

Woohyun must’ve shivered at that thought because Myungsoo suddenly asked, “Are you cold?” And he went to adjust the covers, pulling them higher up Woohyun’s chest, knuckles almost grazing past Woohyun’s beating heart.

“Eung,” Woohyun grunted and arrested the covers from the other’s grip and throwing them over his head, hiding underneath the sheet completely. His hands then flew to cup his cheeks. Damn, were they always this hot? What was wrong with him?

Myungsoo was wondering the same thing and tried to pull the covers off of Woohyun’s head, but Woohyun gripped them tightly before the other could reveal his whole head. Woohyun pulled him back over. “Don’t! I’m cold!” Woohyun whined.

Myungsoo was laughing yet again at Woohyun. “Okay, okay, I won’t,” he assured the other and patted him, on the thigh. That wasn’t helping. Woohyun’s cheek blazed once again.

“Nam Woohyun-ssi?” a woman called out to him. Woohyun was very familiar with that voice now. It was one of the nurses, Jinjoo, who had the looks that suited cute expressions and a bubbly personally but she was as cold and serious as the grave. For that reason, she didn’t even acknowledge Myungsoo’s presence in the room. She was there for business only. “Have you made a bowel movement yet?” she asked all too loudly, as if she really wanted to embarrass Woohyun. He could only whine in response, but that wasn’t the answer that she wanted. “Woohyun-ssi?” Jinjoo called to him, pulling at his sheets.

“I’m cold!” Woohyun exclaimed, holding onto them tightly. He definitely could not come out from under them now.

However, he didn’t have a choice in the matter. Jinjoo was well practiced with ornery patients and yanked the sheets away from him. The sheets flew into the air and fluttered down to his feet. Jinjoo smirked. “It doesn’t look like it to me. Look at how red you are,” she stated in that monotone voice of hers.

Myungsoo now leaned into view, worried once again. “Is it a fever?” he asked the nurse but his eyes were stuck on Woohyun.

“No,” Jinjoo replied, still smirking knowingly. Myungsoo pulled away and sat back in his chair, confused. He was thinking it over, and Woohyun hoped that he never reached a conclusion. The nurse then cleared her throat, getting Woohyun’s attention back on her. “Go if you have the urge okay,” she ordered, wagging a finger at him. “No matter who may be listening.” Now she was furtively pointing at Myungsoo, who was still lost in thought. “Okay?”

“Okay!” Woohyun barked back, reaching down to his feet and pulling the sheets over his head again. More than anything, Woohyun wanted Myungsoo to be at his side (romantically), but right now all he wanted Myungsoo to do was go away. If he was with Sungyeol, why couldn’t he be with Sungyeol right now? Why was he with Woohyun? Why wouldn’t Myungsoo leave?

Pity. It had to be because of pity, nothing more and nothing less. Definitely nothing more. Woohyun would get nothing more from him.

* * *

“Oh,” Sungyeol exclaimed. He nudged the man next to him. He and Sunggyu were grabbing a quick lunch at one of the snack places around the school. He’d asked the teacher where he could go for a quick bite, and Sunggyu not only showed him but accompanied him, stating that he was hungry too. And by the looks of it, Sunggyu was really hungry. His cheeks were round and packed with food as he looked up at the other.

“It looks like Myungsoo found him,” Sungyeol summarized the text that he got from his boyfriend. It looked like Myungsoo won the prize, whatever it would be. But Sungyeol was pretty sure what his boyfriend might want. He himself wanted it too. Sungyeol chuckled to himself, pocketed the phone, and continued talking to the teacher, “Pancreatitis.”

Sunggyu swallowed down all of the food. “Huh, that’s a new one,” he remarked. He might’ve spoken coolly but his actions showed how much he worried for his friend. Sunggyu quickly began to clean up his things even though his meal wasn’t even finished. “I guess we should go see him.” After he said that, he got up from the table.

“Yeah, that would be the right thing to do,” Sungyeol agreed in a slight daze because Sunggyu’s actions were so quick, but Sungyeol still got up and followed the other. Sunggyu paid, Sungyeol thanked him, and they both walked outside.

This time Sunggyu nudged him. “You know what would also be the right thing to do?” he asked the other. Sungyeol raised an eyebrow, asking the other silently to continue. And Sunggyu did, nodding over to the other side of the street, where there was a crane machine filled with plushies modeled after types of food. Most of them inside where shaped like plump mandu with smiling faces. “It’d be nice to show up with a gift, and that thing looks like Woohyun,” Sunggyu suggested

Sungyeol scoffed. Sunggyu seemed like he was in a rush to go, but then he took a sudden detour. Apparently, this teacher could be easily distracted. It was interesting, unexpected. For some reason Sungyeol was under the impression that Kim Sunggyu was as hard as stone, set in his ways, but in reality, Sunggyu was more like clay, malleable. Now Sungyeol could see why Woohyun had been friends with Sunggyu for so long. This guy seemed to be fun to mess with.

Sunggyu frowned when he heard Sungyeol scoff, and so the accountant tried to see if he could distract him himself, “Man, they turn anything into a plushie nowadays.”

It worked. “You don’t think it looks like him?” Sunggyu asked.

Sungyeol shook his head. “It looks exactly like him,” he replied and marched over to the other side of the street, already pushing his sleeves up his arms. “We need to get it.”

* * *

Woohyun walked out of the bathroom, dragging his feet across the floor. His head was hanging low and he whimpered pathetically as the door shut behind him. Although his eyes were on the floor, he saw a pair of feet come into his view. He really wouldn’t leave Woohyun’s side, not even through all of that.  

“You did it!” Myungsoo cheered. Woohyun snapped his head up and caught Myungsoo with his hands up in the air and then falling back down to his side. But Myungsoo’s smile didn’t fall, not even a bit.

Woohyun whined and pouted. “It feels weird that you look so happy about it,” he mumbled.

“Of course I’m happy,” Myungsoo responded. “We get to go home.”

Woohyun balked. “We?” he picked out.

Myungsoo covered his mouth, covering his reaction, and quickly turned to go out the door. “Let’s get you discharged,” his voice was muffled through his hand. “I’ll go tell the nurse.” And he was out the door in a heartbeat.

Woohyun just blinked as he looked at the empty doorway, still astonished. “We?!”

What did that mean? Did it mean anything at all?

* * *

“Over there, over there! Just a little more! Hit it. Hit it! Now!”

“Stop!” Sungyeol snapped. “Stop with the constant commentary! I got it. I got it!”

And indeed, he did get it. Sungyeol got it a few times actually. Sunggyu got it too but only once. Sungyeol had won the mandu plushie on his second try. But then the both of them thought it looked a little lonely. No one ever order just one dumpling, so now they were going for a whole serving. Now they only had to win one more to complete it.

However, Sunggyu got fed up with the game two mandus ago, but he was still set on them getting a whole serving. So it was now in Sungyeol’s hands to make it happen. And although he wasn’t playing anymore, Sunggyu’s interest in the game didn’t stop. He kept commenting, kept cheering the other one on.

After Sungyeol told him to be quiet, Sunggyu walked over to the other side of the machine, loudly chewing on the straw of his drink that he got while they played (Sungyeol had a drink too, an americano resting on the edge of the machine). Sungyeol looked up and could see the teacher through the glass. Sunggyu mouthed, “Fighting. Hit it!” and pumped his fist. Even when Sunggyu was supposed to be quiet, he kept cheering Sungyeol on. The accountant snorted and hit the button like the other wanted him to.

And they won the final mandu.

After many cheers and pats on the back, Sungyeol asked for a bag from the arcade, and they stuffed it full of plushies and then went to catch the bus for the hospital.

But they were too late.

“Visiting hours are over,” the nurse behind the desk at the hospital told them.

“What? How?” Sunggyu blubbered. “We got here as soon as we could!” Sungyeol snorted at that. The teacher was seriously acting like they hadn’t wasted a whole hour (maybe more) trying to win plushies. Sunggyu shot a glare over at Sungyeol, telling him to be quiet with his gaze. And Sungyeol did just that, tucking his lips into his mouth. When he had, Sunggyu faced the nurse again. “Can we just run in and say ‘hey friend’ and leave?” he asked earnestly.

The nurse eyed him curiously and then broke into a broad smile. She was going to bend the rules for them. “What’s his name?” she asked as she went to the computer. Sungyeol and Sunggyu looked over at each other, internally cheering. It was truly lucky that they ran into this nurse and not the F.M. nurse Jinjoo. She would’ve led them out the door as soon as they walked in.

Sungyeol cleared his throat and answered the question, “Nam Woohyun. You should know him pretty well by now.” In fact, Sungyeol had been here so often to visit his friend that he could probably guess at what ward he needed to go to.

“Ah! I do!” the nurse exclaimed with a clap of her hands. “He’s one of my favorites,” she remarked with a dreamy look on her face that quickly morphed to a frown. “But what to do? He was already discharged. And he left with an incredibly handsome man.”

Sunggyu looked confused by that, but Sungyeol knew exactly who the nurse was referring to.  He welled up with pride and nudged the other. “Myungsoo, Myungsoo,” he whispered, excitedly. “My boyfriend,” he reminded the other lowly. He felt himself grinning all too widely, felt the air hitting his gums, but he couldn’t help it. There were few opportunities for him to brag about his boyfriend, and Sungyeol was gonna snatch them up whenever he could.

But judging by the teacher’s face, Sunggyu didn’t look amused. He shrugged and turned to the nurse. “I guess some people would consider that guy handsome,” he remarked.

“Incredibly handsome,” the nurse corrected him.

Sunggyu crossed his arms over his chest and told her, “Well, looks aren’t everything.”

“No, but they sure do help” she retorted and looked past the teacher at Sungyeol.  “Don’t they?”

“Oh yeah,” Sungyeol agreed emphatically rocking back and forth on his heels happily, revelling in all of this. He then glanced over at the other. Sunggyu’s arms were still tight across his chest and he looked as if Sungyeol had just betrayed him. “What? They do,” Sungyeol defended himself with his hands up in the air.

Sunggyu spun around and faced the accountant. “Lookism is a serious plague to this society,” he said so sternly that Sungyeol really felt the “teacher” side of this man.

But he could hand a lecture right back to him: “So is capitalism and look at how much we paid for to win a full serving of Woohyuns,” he retorted, raising and shaking the plastic bag full of plushies. Sunggyu averted his eyes and began to walk out of the hospital. But Sungyeol wasn’t about to let the other walk away from this. He still had more to say, “Don’t act like you never benefited from both of those things either”

Sunggyu whipped his head back towards the other, but he didn’t look furious anymore. He kind of looked...hopeful with that slender smile picking up his face. “Did you just call me handsome?” as he spoke the question, his smile grew wider.

Sungyeol stopped in his tracks, and the other did too. “When did I ever say that?” Sungyeol spat back. His voice sounded more offended than he intended to, but this conversation was threatening to cross dangerous territory. He had Myungsoo now.

But Sunggyu was still smiling. He was almost giddy. “You insinuated that I could benefit from lookism ergo…” the teacher paused for dramatic effect, probably revelling in Sungyeol’s expression whatever it was. Sungyeol couldn’t tell what expression his face had contorted into but from the triumphant, knowing look on Sunggyu’s own face, it wasn’t good. “You think I’m good looking,” Sunggyu finished, crossing his arms across his chest and tilting his head.

Sungyeol blinked at him a few times, figuring out what to say, until it finally came to him: “Did you really just say ‘ergo’?”

“Why? Can’t I?” Just like that, Sunggyu was distracted again.

“Forget it,” Sungyeol mumbled and continued walking out of the hospital. Sunggyu soon scampered up to his side, with his mouth open about to speak. Sungyeol spoke up before he could, “What are we going to do with a bunch of inedible Woohyuns now?” He showed the other the bag again.

Sunggyu sighed and held out his hand. “Give the Woohyuns to me. I’ll drop them off when I stop by his place tonight,” he offered.

“You’re going over there?” Sungyeol asked.

“Eung,” Sunggyu grunted. His hand was still outstretched, waiting for the bag.

“Okay,” Sungyeol mumbled and handed him the bag. He supposed that it was natural for Sunggyu to visit Woohyun. Sunggyu would probably take care of him too. After those two, were more than just friends. They were best friends, just like Sungyeol and Myungsoo were. And Sungyeol was probably going to see a lot more of Sunggyu and Woohyun together, he suspected, which was why he then said, “Before you go, I think we should exchange phone numbers.”

“Why? In case something like this happens again?” Sunggyu asked, his phone was already in his hands. They then exchanged phones and put each other’s number in.

“Yes,” Sungyeol replied as he typed.

“Good idea,” Sunggyu agreed. He started sniggering. “And knowing Woohyun this will happen again.” But the teacher’s voice fell as he continued to talk. He sighed and handed the phone back. Just like Woohyun, Sunggyu seemed to hide his true concerns underneath layers of bravado. So alike, those two truly made an interesting pair.

“Do you waterski?” Sungyeol suddenly heard himself asking as he took his phone back. Sunggyu looked surprised by the question, so the accountant tried to reason, “I’ve been trying to find someone to go with this weekend. Myungsoo and Woohyun won’t do it. I could go along, but...it’s more fun with friends.” It wasn’t a weird or sudden question. Not at all.

Or maybe it was. “I don’t,” Sunggyu answered.

“Oh,” Sungyeol muttered as he put his phone back into his pocket.

“But I could learn.”

Sungyeol snapped his head back up. “You’ll do it?” he asked. Sunggyu nodded tentatively. And that was good enough for Sungyeol, “Great! I’ll text you the details. Bye!” With that, Sungyeol scampered off, anticipating the weekend.

But he had no idea what kind of dilemma that he’d just put Sunggyu in. Kim Sunggyu couldn’t swim worth shit.

* * *

Once again, it was one of those times when Woohyun liked but disliked having Myungsoo as a neighbor. Woohyun was content that the other accompanied him home, but he wasn’t sure if it was because Myungsoo wanted to or because they were going in the same direction. Or it could be because of that damn pity again.

Woohyun didn’t want to think about that. He was tired enough as it was. He told himself just to enjoy this, and so he was, as much as he’d let himself. He was going to prolong it too. After all, he still had to show his gratitude towards Myungsoo. Even though it was embarrassing and confusing to have Myungsoo by his side, Woohyun truly appreciated it.

So he offered to buy them desserts at the convenience store at the end of their block. Myungsoo agreed, like Woohyun thought he would. So the teacher picked up an ice cream cone for himself but a popsicle for Myungsoo, who didn’t like things that were too sweet unlike Woohyun who craved sweets, especially when he was stressed like right now.

Woohyun handed Myungsoo his treat and then sat down at a table. Myungsoo was still standing and watched Woohyun unwrap his ice cream. “Should you be having this?” he asked.

“No, but I want it,” Woohyun was honest. He looked up at Myungsoo, who hadn’t stopped being worried since they left the hospital. “Just sit down,” he told him. He wanted to tell Myungsoo to stop worrying too, but that wasn’t going to happen. However, Myungsoo did sit down, but at another table. Now they weren’t even facing each other but looking straight ahead, at nothing really, nothing but the shops across the street. And that hurt Woohyun. Or was it the ice cream that was making his stomach churn?

It was both. They were two things that Woohyun wanted, that were in reach, but he couldn’t have them. Woohyun stopped eating and turned to face the other, who was blankly staring ahead and sucking on the popsicle. His stomach flipped again. This wasn’t good, not good at all. Woohyun was tired, exhausted by all of this. And now he was going to spew out everything.

“You seem to be enjoying that,” Woohyun remarked. Myungsoo still kept facing forward but nodded and kept eating. “You don’t like things that are too sweet.” Myungsoo nodded again. “Is that why you like Sungyeol more than me?”

“Huh?” Myungsoo finally faced him. His mouth was hanging wide open, but the popsicle was still hanging in it.

“Can I like you?” it came out of Woohyun’s mouth like vomit. But he couldn’t keep swallowing it down anymore. It hurt, and it hurt more and more every time that he did. And now that it was finally out, Woohyun felt better so he kept going (but he couldn’t look at Myungsoo anymore as he did), “I can’t help it anyway so...I’m going to like you.” He paused, waiting for Myungsoo to say anything, but the accountant never did. Woohyun hazarded a glance over at him, and Myungsoo was facing forward again, spacing out. Woohyun did the same and explained himself, “It’ll be a one-sided love. Let me do it for a bit. I’m not even going to try to ask anything else of you. Still date Sungyeol and be good to him. I’ll just like you while you do.”

“Are you serious?” Myungsoo finally spoke up. Woohyun looked over at him. Myungsoo was now staring at him, intently. It made Woohyun speechless and afraid. His throat clamped up and all he could do was nod. And as soon as he did, Myungsoo asked, “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I couldn’t hold it in anymore,” Woohyun answered through his tight throat. He then cleared it and stared at Myungsoo, trying to be just as firm. “Don’t waver. Not because of me,” he ordered the other.

Myungsoo backed down and faced forward again. “I won’t,” he was stern.

“Good,” Woohyun grumbled back. Now he regretted saying anything at all, for acting like the second male lead that he was trying to avoid being. And now he created a situation in which he couldn’t be by Myungsoo’s side anymore. Woohyun had no choice but to get up and leave. And he left the ice cream cone behind on the table.

* * *

After Woohyun left, Myungsoo got up. His feet stuttered, wanting to follow the other. But he couldn’t. So he sat back down. But that didn’t feel right either. Before his butt touched the seat, Myungsoo stood up again. He was wavering.

When he realized that Myungsoo fell down into the seat and kicked in feet in a tantrum.

“Aish,” he groaned. “I live over there too.”

This wasn't the prize he wanted.

* * *

** COMING UP NEXT! **

How is this sudden confession going to change the bond between friends? Will Woohyun stop acting like the second male lead? Is Sunggyu going to learn how to swim or will he drown trying? And will Myungsoo claim as his prize????

All of these and much more thought-provoking questions will be answered in the next chapter!  Like:

*Myungsoo voice* "How do Italians even cook?"

AND

*Sungyeol voice* "What are you? Some kind of monkey?"


End file.
